Twitter is full of tweets about the flu, which has been severe and reached epidemic proportions this year, but it has been difficult to separate tweets about the flu from actual cases.

"We wanted to separate hype about the flu from messages from people who truly become ill," said Mark Dredze, an assistant research professor in Johns Hopkins' department of computer science, who monitors public health trends by looking at tweets.

To solve the problem, Dredze and his colleagues developed a screening method based on human language-processing technologies that only delivers real-time information on actual flu cases and filters out the rest of the chatter on the public tweets in the United States.

The researchers at the Baltimore university tested the system by comparing their results with data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"In late December," Dredze said on Thursday, "the news media picked up on the flu epidemic, causing a somewhat spurious rise in the rate produced by our Twitter system. But our new algorithm handles this effect much better than other systems, ignoring the spurious spike in tweets."

The scientists, whose research was funded partly by the National Institutes of Health's Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study, have also produced maps of the United States that show the impact of the flu on each state.

Dredze said he hoped the system could be used to track the other illnesses.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney,; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Peter Cooney)

A whopping 425 of those deaths last year occurred in , a top safari destination and home to South Africa's largest population of both black and white rhinos. That figure marks a sharp increase from the 252 rhinos killed in the park in 2011.

The poaching boom is largely due to heightened demand for rhino horns in Asia, where the grim prizes are believed to haveand are seen as highly desirable status symbols, especially in Vietnam. TRAFFIC, a nongovernmental global network that monitors wildlife trade, recently issued a report describing how some affluent Vietnamese individuals often use the horn as aand general health tonic, grinding it up and mixing it with water or alcohol.

"Viet Nam must curtail the nations rhino horn habit, which is fuelling a poaching crisis in South Africa," Sabri Zain, TRAFFIC's director of advocacy, said in a statement. "Rhinos are being illegally killed, their horns hacked off and the animals left to bleed to death, all for the frivolous use of their horns as a hangover cure."

Last year also saw some crackdowns. Arrests of suspected poachers and smugglers increased in 2012, with 267 people now facing rhino-related charges and one Thai man sentenced to a record 40 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle horns to Asia, WWF officials said. Last month, Vietnam and South Africa also signed an agreement aimed at strengthening law-enforcement efforts and sharing intelligence to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.

According to WWF, an additional five rhinos have been killed since the beginning of 2013, and two men were arrested in separate incidents in Vietnam and Thailand this month for smuggling rhino horns.

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Keller is the only American chef who owns two three-Michelin-star restaurants - Per Se in New York City and The French Laundry in the Napa Valley wine region in California.

Earlier this year, Britain's Restaurant Magazine named Per Se, which opened in 2004, the world's sixth best restaurant. Keller also earned the magazine's lifetime achievement award.

Like his four other books, his latest effort is a collaboration. He co-wrote it with his top pastry chefs Sebastien Rouxel and Matthew McDonald along with food writers Susie Heller, Michael Ruhlman and Amy Vogler.

The 57-year-old spoke to Reuters about the book, his pastry chefs and his place in the culinary world.

Q: Why did you collaborate with the leaders of your pastry team with this book?

A: "If you look at my other cookbooks, it's always been a point with me to share these opportunities with those who share their skills and expertise with the general public. That was the reason why I did the book. Sebastien is one of the best pastry chefs in America. His techniques are unparalleled. I'm not trying to pretend that I'm a pastry chef by writing a book about baking and pastries. Nor am I trying to be a bread baker. I have Matthew McDonald, who is one of the best bakers in America. To be able to highlight his skills in the bread section was very important as well."

Q: How did your time in France change your view about pastry and bread-making?

A: "When you are in France, especially in Paris, there were three or four boulangeries of different significance just on the block where I lived because they had pastry chefs with different levels of skills. You went to different ones for different things. To have a fresh baked baguette everyday was extraordinary. Anyone who lived in Paris for any length of time would say eating a fresh baguette is pretty special. Bread plays a real important part in the experience of the diners. To make sure we have the opportunity to significantly impact the experience by controlling the production and style of the bread was very important to me."

Q: Do you have a favorite dessert?

A: "It depends on the day ... There are so many things I love. I think anything that's done really, really well. For me, that's really something I really appreciate. I think one of the things that really resonate with the individual is that idea that eating, and eating through that experience, they have a memory. We are always trying to do something that's good. Why put something on the menu that's not very good?"

Q: The book emphasizes weighing ingredients over measuring with cups and spoons. Could that be difficult for home cooks?

A: "One of the things about pastry ... it's such an exact process. The most exact thing you practice is with weighing. There is an exactness to the execution, which gives you every opportunity to be successful."

Q: French Laundry and Per Se are among two of the best restaurants in the country. Bouchon Bakery is a success. What more would you like to accomplish in the culinary world?

A: "I have accomplished today everything I wanted to accomplish, more than I ever dreamed was possible. Right now, I'm just focused on the restaurants we have and the book I just wrote. Let me enjoy this moment before you ask me what I'll be doing tomorrow."

Pecan Sandies for my mom (Makes 1-1/2 dozen cookies)

1 cups + 1 teaspoons all-purpose flour (250 grams)

cup coarsely chopped pecans (80 grams)

4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (170 grams)

cup + 1 teaspoons powdered sugar (90 grams)

Additional powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 325F (convection) or 350F (standard). Line two sheet pans with Silpats or parchment paper.

2. Toss the flour and pecans together in a medium bowl.

3. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium-low speed until smooth. Add the 90 grams/ cup plus 1 teaspoons powdered sugar and mix for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds, until just combined. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any dry ingredients that have settled there.

4. Divide the dough into 30-gram/1-tablespoon portions, roll into balls, and arrange on the sheet pans, leaving about 1 inches between them. Press the cookies into 2-inch disks.

5. Bake until pale golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes if using a convection oven, 22 to 25 minutes if using a standard oven, reversing the positions of the pans halfway through. (Sandies baked in a convection oven will not spread as much as those baked in a standard oven and will have a more even color.)

6. Set the pans on a cooling rack and cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely. If desired, dust with powdered sugar.

Note: The cookies can be stored in a covered container for up to 3 days.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Patricia Reaney and James Dalgleish)

Like larger rival Intel, AMD is trying to refocus its business as sales of laptops languish and consumers increasingly depend on more mobile gadgets.

Microsoft Corp's long-awaited launch of Windows 8 in October brought touch screen features to laptops but failed to spark a resurgence in sales that AMD, Intel and many PC manufacturers had hoped for.

AMD posted fourth-quarter revenue of $1.16 billion, compared to $1.69 billion in the year-ago quarter.

In its report on Tuesday, AMD estimated revenue in the current first quarter would fall 9 percent from the fourth quarter, plus or minus 3 percent. The mid-point of AMD's revenue forecast is about $1.056 billion.

Analysts had expected $1.149 billion in revenue for the December quarter and $1.108 billion in revenue for the current quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

AMD had a net loss of $473 million, or 63 cents a share, compared to a net loss of $177 million, or 24 cents a share, in the same quarter the year before.

Shares of AMD rose 2.45 percent in extended trade after closing down 0.41 percent at $2.45.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Privately, diplomats are furious and frustrated, but experts said Friday that their scope to react is limited by Algeria's importance as an anti-terrorist ally and major oil and gas producer

Algerian special forces stormed a gas plant in eastern Algeria on Thursday to wipe out Islamist militants and free hostages from at least 10 countries. Several hostages and their captors were reported dead or injured, though numbers remained unclear.

The United States, Britain and other countries said they were not told in advance of the raid, which continued Friday.

Japan summoned the Algerian ambassador for a dressing-down, and Britain said Prime Minister David Cameron had urged his Algerian counterpart to act with caution.

Cameron said Friday that in several calls to Algerian premier Abdelmalek Sellal during the crisis, "I urged that we and other countries affected should be consulted before any action was taken" and offered "U.K. technical and intelligence support including from experts in hostage negotiation and rescue."

The United States also offered hostage rescue teams, according to a senior U.S. military official, but the offer was refused.

Experts said it was no surprise that battle-hardened Algeria which threw off French rule in 1962 after years of war, and where some 200,000 people died in a 1990s conflict between the government and Islamist rebels had decided to go it alone.

"The Algerians are very, very prickly about their sovereignty," said Nigel Inkster, a former senior British intelligence official and terrorism expert with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. "I don't think they were remotely inclined to consider or accept any of the advice or capabilities that were on offer."

There's not much governments can do, however annoyed they are. Algeria is vital to Western hopes of containing al-Qaida influence in North and West Africa. Its large oil and gas reserves are crucial both to its own economy and to global energy supply.

Cameron was careful to say Friday that Britain would "stand with the Algerians in their fight against these terrorist forces."

And he stressed that oil and gas companies operating in Algeria "are a major part of the British economy."

"We should be supportive of them, and the work they do in Algeria is vital for Algeria," he said. "It's also vital for us."

Cameron's spokesman, Jean-Christophe Gray, stressed that "this is Algerian sovereign territory and they of course have the right to do as they see fit."

"We have made clear we stand ready to offer assistance, and they have not accepted it," Gray said.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that his government would have liked to know about the operation in advance. Eight Norwegians remain unaccounted for at the site.

But Stoltenberg refrained from openly criticizing Algerian authorities, stressing that "here in Norway, and in other affected countries, we don't have a full and complete picture (of the situation). They do in Algeria."

The attack is a worrying development in an unstable region. Militants have in the past kidnapped foreign tourists across North and West Africa, but diplomats said a large and sophisticated attack on a major energy installation marked a departure.

"There are many, many oil and gas installations in the Algerian desert and I am not aware of any serious occurrences previously for years," said Graham Hand, a former British ambassador to Algeria.

Inkster said governments "are going to have to think long and hard" about how to respond to the attack, and to Algeria's lack of coordination with other nations.

"They need to maintain a decent relationship with Algeria for economic reasons, as well as for security and geopolitical reasons," he said.

_______

Associated Press Writers Cassandra Vinograd in London and Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.

"I'm not some sleaze bag, but she's really suspicious," said Nainan, 31, who works as a comedian. "I'm like, 'Come on, you're kidding me.'"

The test became a sticking point in their budding relationship. "I didn't feel I had anything to be worried about," Nainan said, "but she didn't want to proceed."

He finally gave in and took the test his girlfriend foisted on him, certain he'd test negative. He swabbed his gums -- the test works on saliva -- put the test swab in a test tube and waited as his girlfriend grilled him about his sexual history.

"It was a bit uncomfortable," Nainan said.

Ten tense minutes passed as he watched a deep-pink line appear slowly in a tiny window on the testing device. He prayed it wouldn't be joined by a second line signaling a positive result, and wondered what he'd do if it did emerge.

"I felt like I was taking a pregnancy test," Nainan said.

Do-it-yourself , the virus that causes AIDS, has arrived.

The-- the only one approved for over-the-counter use by the Food and Drug Administration that captures testing and results in one sitting -- hit drug-store shelves two months ago. An earlier HIV home test -- called-- required a user to prick a finger with a spring-loaded lancet, collect a drop of blood on a test card, mail it to a lab and call in one to seven days for the results.

"This was actually quite easy and painless," Nainan said of the OraQuick test. "It's so much better than what you used to have to do."

Aimed at those who might have avoided getting tested in the past either out of, fear, stigma, worries over confidentiality or inconvenience, the new home test has been hailed as a breakthrough.

"It's hard not to be fully enthusiastic about the test," said Dr. Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."Everything we do to increase testing has to have some degree of benefit. By identifying and treating people early, we preserve normal life span and excellent health and reduce contagion."

But the new home test, which sells for about $40 and can also be bought online, has generated its share of hand-wringing, too.

"We generally like this thing," said Dan Tietz, executive director of the research and advocacy group , or ACRIA. "It decreases some of the barriers to testing. It kind of puts HIV in front of people, but there's a bunch of cautions."

For one, there's what Tietz called the "freaking out by themselves problem" -- for the first time, there's no live counselor present -- not even a voice over the phone -- to deliver the results, offer support and make referrals.

Nainan tested negative for HIV, as he expected he would. Despite some sweat as he waited out the 20 minutes staring at the test window, "I really wasn't nervous," he said.

But for home-testers less certain of their HIV status, or who receive an unexpected result, the do-it-yourself route could be overwhelming, Tietz said. "I think about a young person with very little experience with the health care system who might pick up this test," he added.

Tony Martinez, 40, who works in New York's fashion district, took the home test as an "experiment." "If I didn't know I wasn't HIV positive, the test would be a different ballgame. I put myself back many years ago when I went to a clinic and took the test and was terrified. [The home test] was a lot of steps. I don't think I would have followed the directions in that [terrified] state. Am I really going to read the manual "What Your Results Mean" if the test is positive? It's like asking someone to read a drivers' ed manual after an accident."

In lieu of an in-person counselor, , which makes the OraQuick test that the FDA approved in July -- has set up a toll-free 24/7 customer support center with bilingual reps (English-Spanish). They're not certified counselors but have been trained to answer questions about HIV/AIDS, explain how the test works and what the results mean. They can also hook up callers to counseling and care, using the Network and theand can alsotransfer callers directly to a health care professional or agency, said Ron Ticho, senior vice president for corporate communications at OraSure.

"Our representatives go through more than 160 hours of training," Ticho said. Test kits come with instructions, warnings and precautions. Home-testers can find the same test information on OraSure's website, along with the same referral databases the call center uses.

But handing concerns about HIV over to a toll-free number has raised questions.

Much is made of the fact that without a counselor present, even with warnings on the box and inserts and brochures written for a seventh- to eighth-grade reading level, home-testers might not understand that, as with all HIV tests, regardless of the testing method, a positive result is preliminary and needs to be confirmed by a more specific test given at an HIV test site.

This is especially worrying with the home test because although the OraQuick test is the same rapid test that medical professionals have used at testing sites since 2004, it loses some of its accuracy in the hands of consumers: The percentage of results that will be accurately positive drops from 99.3 at a testing site to 92.9 when do-it yourselvers test themselves at home: This means that about one person in 12 could get a false negative.

Another stumbling block is the "" --the time it takes, usually 12 weeks, for the body to develop the antibodies the test detects afterexposure to HIV, giving some people a "false sense of safety" that they're HIV negative when they are in fact HIV positive and at their most contagious.

"That's always a huge, really important piece of counseling," said Barbara Adler, manager of HIV counseling and testing at the , where the first HIV test was given 27 years ago.

But, Adler said, sometimes people who received a preliminary positive result didn't return for the results from the confirming test.

"So I don't know if sitting with another human being when they're getting a result is going to help that. I think the person who wants the physical presence of someone else probably won't do the home test.

"There's reasons, though, for wanting to test alone in your home. While the stigma is not like it was 30 years ago," Adler said, "it's still there and can be heavy. It's a disease around sex, or around needle use. Who wants to talk about those things? It's not like we're talking about cholesterol, or something you got because you ate certain foods or got too much sun."

OraSure emphasizes that its HIV home test is simply an additional option to the testing already available -- which often comes free -- at public health clinics, community service organizations and doctors' offices.

"We know that there's a lot of individuals who should be getting tested but aren't, and this is another opportunity for them to do so," OraSure's Ticho said. "Is it the right option for everyone? Probably not."

Nevertheless, with an HIV diagnosis no longer sounding a death knell, it could be a test whose time has come.

"The tide has really turned on HIV testing," said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, co-director of the Medical Practice Evaluation Center and an AIDS researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"It's a lot more streamlined, and there's not a lot of counseling required now. Treatment is available, and there's a lot of literature that says that life expectancy is up to near normal if people engage in care early and take care of themselves.

"There are cancers, and many, many other diseases that have far worse outcomes than HIV that people deal with on their own without a lot of counseling."

Of the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20 percent don't even know that they're infected and account for more than half of the 50,000 new infections a year in the United States.

Whetherpeople most at risk -- African-American gay-bisexual men, , according to the CDC -- will have the money and motivation to go to the drug store and pay $40 for the home test is another question, Walensky said.

Even if they have the $40 to spend on an HIV home test, many won't be able to buy it anyway, because the OraQuick home test cannot be sold to anyone younger than 17, and requires ID.

"Any availability of any test anywhere is a good thing," Walensky said. "Whether this is going to be an epidemic game-changer is where I have to opt out."

researchers at Rice University in Houston have achieved a breakthrough in the manufacture of carbon nanotubes. The breakthrough has profound implications, not the least of which is in space applications.

Carbon nanotubes

Nanocyl, which produces carbon nanotubes,as a carbon-based material that is shaped like a tube that measures less than five nanometers wide. A nanometer is one-ten thousandth the thickness of a human hair. A carbon nanotube is stronger than steel and can conduct both heat and electricity. It is thus a very versatile material with a myriad of possible applications.

The Rice University breakthrough

Hitherto, producing carbon nanotubes in quantity has been expensive and difficult. The researchers at Rice University have developed a process that can spin strands of the material like silk from a spider web, the Houston Chronicle reports. The process is relatively inexpensive and, more importantly, scalable to an industrial size.

Spaceship hulls made of carbon nanotubes

. The relative strength and light mass of carbon nanotubes make it the ideal material for spaceship hulls. The material's ability to conduct electricity means that the carbon nanotube hulls can store it, much like a battery. Electronic circuits and sensors can be embedded in the material, which can also be used for various other spaceship systems, connected to a computer to predict when a failure is about to occur, allowing astronauts to fix the problem before it arises.

Carbon nanotube bio-capsules

Another NASA application for carbon nanotubes is its useAstronauts on long, deep space voyages would be implanted with these biocapsules which would then sense problems as they arise and secrete the appropriate medication. For example, if an astronaut receives a dose of radiation, the biocapsule would dispense drugs that would fix cell damage before it becomes acute. The technology has a myriad of earthbound applications, from dispensing insulin to diabetics to targeted chemotherapy for cancer sufferers.

Space elevators

The holy grail of space travel is a concept called the space elevator. Instead of riding into space on board a big, expensive rocket, one would ride in a space elevator in comfort, in cars that would travel up and down ribbons from the Earth's surface to a space station 22,000 miles up in a geostationary orbit.that carbon nanotubes would have the properties of strength and lightness to make such a railroad to the stars possible.

Mark R. Whittington is the author ofand . He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.

Attorney General Linda Kelly told The Associated Press on Thursday that "an actual conflict of interest could, and likely would, arise if this office were involved in both cases."

Her office is prosecuting Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz and Tim Curley on charges of endangering the welfare of children, obstruction, conspiracy, failure to report suspected child abuse and perjury. Prosecutors claim they illegally covered up complaints and suspicions about Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator who was convicted last summer of 45 counts of child sexual abuse, including attacks inside campus facilities.

Corbett sued the NCAA in federal court on Wednesday, saying a set of penalties imposed against Penn State over its handling of the matter should be thrown out on antitrust grounds. The school agreed to a $60 million fine, a four-year ban on post-season play, a reduction in scholarships and the elimination of more than 100 wins under former coach Joe Paterno.

The size and scope of the criminal case made it "untenable" for the attorney general's office to sue the NCAA, Kelly said.

"Given the serious nature of both these cases, keeping these matters separate is the best course of action for the people of Pennsylvania," she said.

The NCAA has called Corbett's lawsuit meritless and an affront to the victims of Sandusky, who is now serving a 30- to 60-year state prison sentence for abuse of 10 boys over 15 years.

Spanier, forced out as president last year after Sandusky's arrest, remains a faculty member but is on paid leave. Curley is serving out the last year of his contract as athletic director, also on leave. Schultz, the school's vice president for business and finance, has retired.

All three have said they are innocent.

Under state law, the attorney general pursues and defends lawsuits involving most state agencies, but can delegate that power for reasons of efficiency or if it is otherwise deemed to be in the best interests of the state.

Kelly said her office received a request from Corbett's lawyer James D. Schultz on Friday, Dec. 14, for permission to sue the NCAA. Her office granted it three days later, she said. That authority, signed by the chief of her litigation section, can be terminated or amended by the attorney general's office, and it does not cover any appeals.

Kelly, a Republican, was nominated two years ago by Corbett, who left the office midterm after being elected governor.

Her decision drew criticism Thursday from a suburban Philadelphia politician who is considering a run against Corbett in the 2014 GOP primary. Bruce Castor, a Montgomery County commissioner and former district attorney, said the lawsuit appeared to be filed in a rush because Kelly's successor, Democrat Kathleen Kane, is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 15.

"I can't imagine any circumstances where I would have given up a case of this importance from my office," Castor said. "It would be exciting. It would be challenging. It would be headline-grabbing. It would have all of the elements that I used to think made a case worthwhile of handling, if not by myself, with my staff."

Kane did not respond to a message seeking comment left Thursday for Charlie Lyons, a top aide in her transition.

Walter Cohen, who spent nearly seven years in the attorney general's office, including a year as the attorney general, said he doubted Kane will want to take the case back.

"She's going to be handed a lot of stuff that happened under Linda Kelly, including the Curley and Schultz and Spanier prosecutions," Cohen said. "That itself is a lot to do."

With five words "The antisocial has become social" the Los Angeles Lakers guard sent the first tweet from his account Friday. About 250,000 people followed his verified account, (at)kobebryant, within a few hours and he was up to 365,000 late Friday night as the Lakers played the Los Angeles Clippers.

Bryant tiptoed into the Twitterverse last week when he briefly took over Nike basketball's account, when he sent out things like a photo of him hanging out with his daughter, an ice bath that he was dreading and even a suit he was wearing to a particular game.

Bryant says those few days made him consider starting his own account, saying he enjoyed connecting with fans "with no filters."

Heat star LeBron James has 6.8 million followers, the most of any National Basketball Association player.

Brown, 74, announced that his treatments were finished during a press conference in Sacramento on prison overcrowding.

Asked if he was feeling better after the treatment, Brown drew laughter when he held out his arms and said, "You choose."

"I'm ready. I'm rarin' to go," Brown said. "Don't expect me to leave too soon."

The completion of Brown's cancer treatment comes as the California Legislature reconvenes for a new session following an election that gave Democrats a supermajority in both houses - the first time any party has had such a grip on the legislature in 79 years.

Brown has been riding a string of successes in recent months. Voters in November approved a tax hike he championed, while soundly rejecting a measure he opposed that would have gutted union political power.

He also oversaw approval of a high-speed rail project and has been reining in an unwieldy budget deficit that has plagued California for years.

In announcing the cancer treatments in December, Brown's office had described his prognosis for recovery as excellent and said he would to keep up a full work schedule.

Dr. Eric Small, an oncologist treating the governor, had called it an early-stage, localized prostate cancer.

Brown had a cancerous growth removed from the right side of his nose in April 2011, followed by reconstructive surgery.

He became one of the youngest governors of California when he took office in 1975 at age 36, going on to serve two consecutive terms. He later returned to that office in 2011 and is now the oldest governor the state has ever had.

(Reporting by Greg Lucas and Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)