Stellar performances finally gain the limelight

Michael Brooks, consultant

(Image: Five Finger Yamanaka/courtesy of Phil Ross)

In Heart of Darkness, Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton add new stars to the constellation of astronomy to tell the subject's full history

WE HAVE all heard of the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble, but where is the Tinsley telescope?

Beatrice Tinsley was an excellent astronomer, but her career was stymied by an establishment set against giving a salary to the wife of an academic - even if she was also a gifted scientist. Tinsley made at least two vital contributions to our understanding of the universe's history, but she had to divorce her husband and grant him custody of the children to get any recognition of her talents.

In Heart of Darkness, Jeremiah Ostriker and Simon Mitton explore modern cosmology while recasting what they term the "simple linear parade of heroes" of standard accounts. Among the uncelebrated stars of cosmology they discuss, Tinsley shines brightest, but there are others: Milton Humason, a poorly educated mule-driver and janitor who assisted Hubble in his observations, and Vesto Slipher, who, despite working in the shadow of a boss obsessed with finding evidence for Martian civilisations, made the first observations that told us about the expansion of the universe.

Why do some names last and others fade? As well as being a great astronomer, Hubble was a "showman", and a "comfortable celebrity", say Ostriker and Mitton. Tinsley, meanwhile, was diagnosed with cancer the year she finally made full professor (at Yale). She died four years later, aged 40. Like a supernova, she burned brightly but briefly. Hopefully, this thorough and inspiring book will secure her a place in cosmological history.

Not that Ostriker and Mitton's book is focused solely on people - quite the opposite. Relatively few biographical details are given: it is their scientific contributions that are explored - and with aplomb.

This is a strong, confident book, easily one of the best guides to why cosmologists make the claims they do. Yet for all their redistribution of credit, the cosmology that the authors set out remains uncontroversial. It is the universe that began in a singularity, passed through a period of rapid inflation, and is now dominated by dark matter and dark energy. The state of our knowledge, they say, represents a "stunning" accomplishment.

This is the dilemma of modern cosmology: what counts as success? Summing up, Ostriker and Mitton simultaneously cite a "pretty impressive list of successes" while acknowledging that cosmology is "profoundly incomplete". We don't know what caused the inflation, what constitutes dark matter or what lies behind dark energy. In the end, the authors settle for a declaration that there's plenty for future cosmologists to do.

If there is one flaw in this crystal clear book, it's a lack of depth in the discussion of the dark side of the universe. It provides the book's title and is supposed to account for 96 per cent of the universe, but is confined to two chapters towards the end. Alternatives to dark matter are dismissed in little more than a paragraph and compared to pre-Copernican efforts to keep the Earth at the centre of the cosmos. When many respected scientists support the continued search for alternatives, that seems somewhat disingenuous.

Were she still with us, Tinsley would no doubt argue that there are compelling reasons to believe in the existence of dark matter, but that there are good reasons to consider alternatives, too. Her unique contribution to cosmology was to persuade a dismissive establishment that galaxies change their properties over time. In so doing, she exposed a gaping hole in the cosmology of the 1970s. It was a supreme achievement, if unwelcome.

Clearly, if you want your name to go down in history (or onto a telescope) it's better to be a showman than a troublemaker. But if the history of science teaches us anything, it's that the troublemakers should be celebrated too.

Book information:
Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the mysteries of the invisible universe by Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton
Princeton University Press
£19.95/$27.95

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Football: Centralised training for S'pore team for 2013 SEA Games

SINGAPORE: Members of the LionsXII and the Courts Young Lions will form the bulk of the Singapore football squad for the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar.

Despite its regional powerhouse status, Singapore has never won a gold medal in football at the SEA Games competition and the Lions are gunning to end the barren run in Myanmar this year.

To achieve that, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is looking to bring the teams together for centralised training ahead of the Games.

It is critical that the Young Lions and LionsXII have more playing time together.

This will allow selectors enough time to get the SEA Games team to gel and make changes before the December tournament.

FAS president Zainudin Nordin said: "If we are able to pick a suitable month where both calendar can fit in, why not. We can have a team going on a training programme that will put them into a single fighting unit. I think we will work hard towards that."

A good result at the 2013 SEA Games will continue the momentum from the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup win where the Singapore team clinched a historic fourth ASEAN football title.

On Monday afternoon, the Courts Young Lions received a boost when its sponsor, Courts, decided to stick with the team for another year with a sponsorship deal estimated to be in the region of S$500,000.

The support will keep the focus on the youngsters and allow them to prove themselves, especially with better quality star players signed by some teams.

Courts Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar said: "The objective of the Courts Young Lions this year is to provide a platform, to create a wider pool of players for the coach to bring the team and to select the team for the 2013 SEA Games."

- CNA/fa

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Brazil nightclub fire 'like a war zone'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The owners of the nightclub pledged to cooperate with the investigation


• At least 231 people died in the fire, authorities say


• Funerals are scheduled to begin Monday for those killed in the fire

Are you there? Share your story.

Santa Maria, Brazil (CNN) -- Guitarist Rodrigo Martin was preparing to launch into the sixth song of his band's set when he saw embers fall.

The acoustic foam insulation on the ceiling of the KISS nightclub in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria was on fire, and it was beginning to spread.

The hot ash fell onto the stage and dance floor.

Photos: Hundreds dead in Brazil nightclub fire

In front of him, a sea of people who moments earlier were dancing and singing along to the country-pop sounds of his band Gurizada Fandangueira began to realize something was wrong.

Hundreds dead in Brazil nightclub fire

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Suddenly, concert-goers were stampeding toward the club's only exit, pushing and shoving each other trying to get out.

Then, according to investigators and witnesses, somebody fell in the narrow, dark hallway that led to the windowless exit.

And then another person fell.

And then another.

Searching for answers

It was the last weekend of Brazil's summer break for many of the students, and the KISS nightclub was packed early Sunday with young people -- many of whom attended one of a number of universities and colleges in Santa Maria.

At least 231 people died and hundreds more were injured in the fire that authorities believe began about 2:30 a.m. Sunday when the band's pyrotechnic show ignited insulation material.

Many apparently died from smoke inhalation. Others were trampled in the rush for the exits.

Of the dead, 101 were students at the Federal University of Santa Maria.

Another 120 remained hospitalized Monday morning, 79 in critical condition, authorities said.

About 2,000 people were inside the club when the fire broke out -- double the maximum capacity of 1,000, said Guido de Melo, a state fire official.

The roof collapsed in several parts of the building, trapping many inside. Firefighters found piles of bodies in the club's bathroom.

It looked, said state lawmaker Valderci Oliveira, "like a war zone."

Read more: How to protect yourself in a crowd

For others, escaping was complicated by the fact that guards initially stopped people from leaving, said a reporter from CNN affiliate Band News, echoing comments from the state fire official.

"Some guards thought at first that it was a fight, a huge fight that happened inside the club and closed the doors so that the people could not leave without paying their bills from the club," the reporter, Glauber Fernandes, said.

But Rodrigo Moura, a nightclub security guard, said the fire moved fast.

"All of the sudden the fire just took off and was all around us. We tried to tell people to get out," he said.

The owners of the nightclub, meanwhile, pledged to cooperate with the investigation into the fire, according to a statement released by the law firm of Kummel & Kummel.

"We are open to all authorities and inspections," said the statement, obtained by Globo TV.

The club's license had expired in August and had not been renewed, a local fire official told Globo TV.

The owners, however, said the nightclub was properly permitted and had been inspected by the fire marshal.

Deadly blazes: Nightclub tragedies in recent history

'Blocked by security'

The band, Gurizada Fandangueira, was a popular attraction at KISS in part because of its pyrotechnic show, according to Billboard.com. It played at the nightclub about once a month, and was there Sunday to promote a new album.

Martin, the guitarist, told Radio Gaucha the band had been on stage for about 20 minutes, finishing the fifth song of its set, when it set off its "sputnik" pyrotechnics -- sparkler columns that shoot up in the air.

"We used it all the time. ...We never had this problem before," he told the radio station late Sunday.

Martin said he first noticed a small ember, and then he looked up at the ceiling and saw the flames.

A backstage hand attempted to put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher. "But, it didn't work," he said.

Martin said as he and the other band members got off the stage, there were 20 to 30 people in front of him who were "being blocked by security."

People started pushing and shoving, and then they tripped over one another to the door.

Martin said the band's accordion player, 28-year-old Danilo Jacques, died in the fire.

"I saw him, and then I lost him in the crowd," he said.

Struggling to help

Esequiel Corte Real and his friends arrived late for the show and ended up with what they thought was one of the worst locations to watch -- by the exit.

The same happened with Norton Basson and his friends, who were at the club to celebrate his 29th birthday.

They are alive, they believe, because they were where they were -- making them among the first to make out alive.

After the fire started, the dark, narrow hallway that led to KISS nightclub's exit was choked with smoke and people trying to find their way out.

Outside, Corte Real and his friends could hear the screams of people still trying to escape.

He told Globo TV that he and his friends ran back in to the club to try to help.

They pulled out one body. Then two more.

"Somebody must be alive," he said.

Basson and his friends, meanwhile, grabbed rocks, sticks and an axe they found at a nearby building and began trying to knock a hole in the side of the building to help those trapped inside. Others soon joined them with shovels and more axes.

Firefighters used the hole Basson and his friends created to get inside the club.

There, they were greeted by the eerie sounds of cell phones ringing in the pockets and purses of the dead: parents trying to desperately trying to reach their children.

The missing

Later Sunday, family members wept as they searched for information outside a local gymnasium where bodies were taken for identification.

Inside, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff met with relatives as they waited on bleachers for word of their loved ones. She had been attending a regional summit in Chile, but cut short the trip and returned to Brazil early to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy.

"The Brazilian people are the ones who need me today," she said. "I want to tell the people of Santa Maria in this time of sadness that we are all together."

Ericmar Avila Dos Santos went from hospital to hospital Sunday, searching for his 23-year-old brother.

Hours earlier, he learned in a telephone call from a friend that his older brother was among those missing following the fire.

His family scanned lists, talked with police officials. They checked with friends, searched everywhere.

They finally found him -- among hundreds of bodies laid out on body bags at a makeshift morgue at a local gym.

Rhode Island victims 'can't help but watch'

"I was supposed to go with him. I didn't feel like going out. He ended up there without me," Avila Dos Santos said, openly sobbing over his brother's coffin outside the gym.

On Monday, the first of Brazil's three days of mourning, the three cemeteries in the city of 260,000 were packed with families readying to bury their dead.

Among them: Avila Dos Santos' family.

"We did everything together. We were even studying the same major," he said, remembering his brother. "Now that he's gone, I'm lost. I don't know what I'm going to do with my life."

Shasta Darlington reported from Santa Maria, Brazil. Chelsea J. Carter reported from Atlanta. CNN's Helena DeMoura contributed to this report.

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Missteps hiked Brazil night club blaze death toll

Updated 3:20 a.m. EST

SANTA MARIA, Brazil A fast-moving fire roared through a crowded, windowless nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, filling the air in seconds with flames and a thick, toxic smoke that killed more than 230 panicked party-goers, many of whom were caught in a stampede to escape.

Inspectors believe the blaze began when a band's small pyrotechnics show ignited foam sound insulating material on the ceiling, releasing a putrid haze that caused scores of university students to choke to death. Most victims died from smoke inhalation rather than burns in what appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

The Federal University of Santa Maria confirmed to CBS News that 101 of its students were among the dead.

The first funerals for victims were set to begin Monday morning.

Survivors and a police inspector, Marcelo Arigony, said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club. Brazilian bars routinely make patrons pay their entire tab at the end of the night before they are allowed to leave.

But Arigony said the guards didn't appear to block fleeing patrons for long. "It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith, because several security guards also died," he told The Associated Press.

Later, firefighters responding to the blaze initially had trouble getting inside the Kiss nightclub because of "a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance," Guido Pedroso Melo, commander of the city's fire department, told the O Globo newspaper.

Authorities said band members who were on the stage when the fire broke out later talked with police and confirmed they used pyrotechnics during their show.

Police inspector Sandro Meinerz, who coordinated the investigation at the nightclub, said one band member died after escaping because he returned inside the burning building to save his accordion. The other band members escaped alive because they were the first to notice the fire.

17 Photos

More than 200 die in Brazil nightclub fire

"It was terrible inside -- it was like one of those films of the Holocaust, bodies piled atop one another," said Meinerz. "We had to use trucks to remove them. It took about six hours to take the bodies away."

Television images from Santa Maria, a university city of about 260,000 people, showed black smoke billowing out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless young men who attended the university party joined firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound at the hot-pink exterior walls, trying to reach those trapped inside.

Bodies of the dead and injured were strewn in the street and panicked screams filled the air as medics tried to help. There was little to be done; officials said most of those who died were suffocated by smoke within minutes.

Within hours, a community gym was a horror scene, with body after body lined up on the floor, partially covered with black plastic as family members identified kin.

Outside the gym, police held up personal objects -- a black purse, a blue high-heeled shoe -- as people seeking information on loved ones crowded around, hoping not to recognize anything being shown them.

Teenagers sprinted from the scene after the fire began, desperately seeking help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms. Many of the victims were under 20 years old, including some minors. About half of those killed were men, about half women.

The party was organized by students from several academic departments from the Federal University of Santa Maria. Such organized university parties are common throughout Brazil.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

The fire spread so fast inside the packed club that firefighters and ambulances could do little to stop it, Silva said.

Another survivor, Michele Pereira, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage when members of the band lit some sort of flare that started the conflagration.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward," she said. "At that point, the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak, but in a matter of seconds it spread."

Guitarist Rodrigo Martins told Radio Gaucha that the band, Gurizada Fandangueira, started playing at 2:15 a.m. "and we had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning."

"It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it," he said. "When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working."

He confirmed that accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello said by telephone that the toll had risen to 233 with the death of a hospitalized victim. He said earlier that the death toll was likely made worse because the nightclub appeared to have just one exit through which patrons could exit.

Officials earlier counted 232 bodies that had been brought for identification to a gymnasium in Santa Maria, which is located at the southern tip of Brazil, near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.

Federal Health Minister Alexandre Padhilha told a news conference that most of the 117 people treated in hospitals had been poisoned by gases they breathed during the fire. Only a few suffered serious burns, he said.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff arrived to visit the injured after cutting short her trip to a Latin American-European summit in Chile.

"It is a tragedy for all of us," Rousseff said.

Most of the dead apparently were asphyxiated, according to Dr. Paulo Afonso Beltrame, a professor at the medical school of the Federal University of Santa Maria who went to the city's Caridade Hospital to help victims.

Beltrame said he was told the club had been filled far beyond its capacity.

Survivors, police and firefighters gave the same account of a band member setting the ceiling's soundproofing ablaze, he said.

"Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room, and I would say that at least 90 percent of the victims died of asphyxiation," Beltrame told the AP.

"The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit. At least 50 bodies were found inside a bathroom. Apparently they confused the bathroom door with the exit door."

In the hospital, the doctor "saw desperate friends and relatives walking and running down the corridors looking for information," he said, calling it "one of the saddest scenes I have ever witnessed."

Rodrigo Moura, identified by the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Santa Maria Mayor Cezar Schirmer declared a 30-day mourning period, and Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, said officials were investigating the cause of the disaster.

The blaze was the deadliest in Brazil since at least 1961, when a fire that swept through a circus killed 503 people in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.

Sunday's fire also appeared to be the worst at a nightclub since December 2000, when a welding accident reportedly set off a fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309.

In 2004, at least 194 people died in a fire at an overcrowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Seven members of a band were sentenced to prison for starting the flames.

A blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, killed 152 people in December 2009 after an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches.

Similar circumstances led to a 2003 nightclub fire that killed 100 people in the United States. Pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling of a Rhode Island music venue.

The band performing in Santa Maria, Gurizada Fandangueira, plays a driving mixture of local Brazilian country music styles. Guitarist Martin told Radio Gaucha the musicians are already seeing hostile messages.

"People on the social networks are saying we have to pay for what happened," he said. "I'm afraid there could be retaliation."

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'Barrier of Bodies' Trapped Nightclub Fire Victims

The bodies of the young college students were found piled up just inside the entrance of the Kiss nightclub, among more than 230 people who died in a cloud of toxic smoke after a blaze enveloped the crowded locale within seconds and set off a panic.

Hours later, the horrific chaos had transformed into a scene of tragic order, with row upon row of polished caskets of the dead lined up in the community gymnasium in the university city of Santa Maria. Many of the victims were under 20 years old, including some minors.

As the city in southern Brazil prepared to bury the 233 people killed in the conflagration caused by a band's pyrotechnic display, an early investigation into the tragedy revealed that security guards briefly prevented partygoers from leaving through the sole exit. And the bodies later heaped inside that doorway slowed firefighters trying to get in.

"It was terrible inside — it was like one of those films of the Holocaust, bodies piled atop one another," said police inspector Sandro Meinerz. "We had to use trucks to remove them. It took about six hours to take the bodies away."

Survivors and another police inspector, Marcelo Arigony, said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club. Brazilian bars routinely make patrons pay their entire tab at the end of the night before they are allowed to leave.

Germano Roratto/AFP/Getty Images

Brazil Nightclub Fire: Nearly 200 People Killed Watch Video

"It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith because several security guards also died," he told The Associated Press.

Later, firefighters responding to the blaze initially had trouble entering the club because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance," Guido Pedroso Melo, commander of the city's fire department, told the O Globo newspaper.

Police inspectors said they think the source of the blaze was a band's small pyrotechnics show. The fire broke out sometime before 3 a.m. Sunday and the fast-moving fire and toxic smoke created by burning foam sound insulation material on the ceiling engulfed the club within seconds.

Authorities said band members who were on the stage when the fire broke out later talked with police and confirmed they used pyrotechnics during their show.

Meinerz, who coordinated the investigation at the nightclub, said one band member died after escaping because he returned inside the burning building to save his accordion. The other band members escaped alive because they were the first to notice the fire.

The fire spread so fast inside the packed club that firefighters and ambulances could do little to stop it, survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," she said.

Most victims died from smoke inhalation rather than burns. Many of the dead, about equally split between young men and women, were also found in the club's two bathrooms, where they fled apparently because the blinding smoke caused them to believe the doors were exits.

There were questions about the club's operating license. Police said it was in the process of being renewed, but it was not clear if it was illegal for the business to be open. A single entrance area about the size of five door spaces was used both as an entrance and an exit.

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DNA privacy: don't flatter yourself

The secrets contained in our individual genomes are less valuable than we like to believe

IMAGINE donating your DNA to a project aimed at discovering links between genes and diseases. You consent to your genome sequence being released anonymously into the public domain, though you are warned there is a remote possibility that it might one day be possible to link it back to you.

A few years later, that remote possibility comes to pass. How should you feel? This is no longer a hypothetical scenario. About 50 people who participated in a project called 1000 Genomes have been traced (see "Matching names to genes: the end of genetic privacy?").

The researchers' intentions were honourable. They have not revealed these identities, and the original data has been adjusted to make a repeat using the same technique impossible. All they wanted to do was expose privacy issues.

Consider them exposed. It is clear that genomics has entered a new phase, similar to that which social media went through a few years ago, when concerns were raised about people giving away too much personal information.

What happens when the same applies to our DNA? Having your genome open to public scrutiny obviously raises privacy issues. Employers and insurers may be interested. Embarrassing family secrets may be exposed.

But overall, personal genetic information is probably no more revealing than other sorts. In fact there are reasons to believe that it is less so: would an insurance company really go to the trouble of decoding a genome to discover a slightly elevated risk of cancer or Alzheimer's disease?

The available evidence suggests not. In 2006, Harvard University set out to sequence the genomes of 100,000 volunteers and make them publicly available, along with personal information such as names and medical records. One of the goals was to see what happens when such data is open to all. The answer seems to be "not a lot". So far this Personal Genome Project has published 148 people's full genomes. Not one volunteer has reported a privacy issue.

This is not a reason for complacency, but it suggests that our genomic secrets are less interesting to other people than we might like to believe.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

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150 dead in Brazil nightclub fire: media

RIO DE JANEIRO: 150 people died early Sunday in a fire that broke out at a nightclub in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria, local media reported.

Santa Maria fire chief Guido de Melo said there was panic after the fire started and many revellers got trampled.

According to media reports, the fire erupted after 2:00 am (0400 GMT) when the nightclub hosted a university party featuring a rock band.

The band used pyrotechnics as part of its show, O Globo newspaper reported on its site.

"We have just taken the fire under control," Colonel Silvia Fuchs of the local fire department was quoted by the G1 website as saying. "Now we are removing the bodies."

Family member are gathering outside of the burned-down building in the hope of getting news of their loved ones.

- AFP/xq

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Casey Anthony files for bankruptcy

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

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Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Anthony lists about $1,000 in personal property and almost $800,000 in liabilities


• The filing came the same day two of her four convictions for lying were thrown out


• Anthony was acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee


• Attorney: Anthony feels bad that she can't pay legal fees; another attorney questions her motive

(CNN) -- Casey Anthony's fate keeps changing.

Two years ago, her murder trial for the death of her toddler riveted the country, ending with Anthony's dramatic acquittal. But she was convicted on four counts of lying to authorities.

On Friday, an appeals court threw out two of those convictions.

Now, the 26-year-old has filed for bankruptcy, citing almost $800,000 in liabilities.

And her legal struggles are far from over.

Bankruptcy motive questioned

Anthony sought Chapter 7 protection in a federal court in Tampa on Friday, soon after the appeals court ruling.

Such a filing is meant to allow one to do away with most existing debts and make a fresh start financially.

In the documents, Anthony says she owes almost $800,000 to about 80 creditors, and she has no income.

She is also defending herself against several civil lawsuits, including a defamation suit from Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, who claims Anthony ruined her reputation.

In 2008, Anthony told an investigator the last time she saw her 2-year-old daughter Caylee was when she dropped Caylee off at Gonzalez's apartment.

Gonzalez's attorney, Matt Morgan, told CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13 he believes the bankruptcy filing is an attempt to postpone the case.

"This most recent filing appears to be yet another calculated delay tactic," Morgan said. "We are not deterred and will stay the course."

But an attorney for Anthony told the affiliate his client is distraught that she can't pay her legal fees.

"To some extent she feels, she feels bad that she's having to have all these legal services provided to her and she is unable to compensate anyone," Andy Chmelir said. "So she wants closure more than anything else."

What she has and what she owes

Anthony listed about $1,000 in personal property, according to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13. The listed property values include:

- Cash on hand: $474

- Furniture and laptop: $200

- Jewelry: $200

- Woman's clothing and accessories: $100

The documents also list people that might have a claim against Anthony, which includes her mother and consultants that helped in her criminal case, News 13 reported.

Claims listed in the filing include:

- Jose Baez, the lead defense attorney during Anthony's trial: $500,000

- Orange County Sheriff's Office: $145,660.21

- Internal Revenue Service: $68,540

- Cindy and George Anthony, her parents: Unknown amounts

Anthony: "We keep fighting" after two convictions tossed

The filing came the same day Florida's 5th District Court of Appeal threw out two of Anthony's four convictions of lying to authorities as they investigated the disappearance of Caylee.

The appeals judges agreed with Anthony's argument that the multiple convictions amounted to double jeopardy. But the judges upheld the other two convictions.

According to Friday's court filing, the appeals judges rejected Anthony's claim that statements she made before being read her Miranda rights should not have been allowed in the trial. And they rejected her argument that the state statute she was convicted of violating is unconstitutionally vague.

Attorney Cheney Mason said when he called his client to share the ruling that two of the four convictions had been overturned, Anthony said, "We keep fighting."

Anthony could appeal the remaining two convictions to the Florida Supreme Court next.

Caylee Anthony's death and the emotional trial

In an internationally publicized case, Anthony was tried in 2011 and acquitted of murder charges in the death of Caylee.

The child was last seen June 16, 2008, but was not reported missing until July 15, 2008, when Casey Anthony's mother tracked her daughter down and demanded answers about Caylee's whereabouts.

Investigators searched for the child for five months, eventually finding Caylee's skeletal remains in woods less than a mile from her grandparents' Orlando home.

Read how Anthony's prosecutor has no regrets

When questioned early in the investigation, Casey Anthony admitted to police that she hadn't seen Caylee for more than 30 days, and on July 16, 2008, she was arrested on suspicion of child neglect, filing false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.

After almost three years of legal maneuvers, Anthony's capital murder trial began on May 24, 2011.

Prosecutors alleged that she killed Caylee by using chloroform and covering her nose and mouth with duct tape, and that she put her body in the trunk of her car before dumping it in the woods.

Defense attorney Jose Baez argued that Caylee drowned in the Anthony family pool on June 16, 2008, and that Casey Anthony and her father, George, covered up the death.

Watch: A year after trial, where's Anthony?

On July 5, 2011, a jury found Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child, while convicting her on the four "false information" counts.

Anthony was sentenced to four years in jail, to be served consecutively. But with her time in jail as she awaited trial counting against the jail terms, she was released 10 days after her sentencing.

CNN's Mark Morgenstein and In Session's Jean Casarez contributed to this report.

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At least 5 die in Chicago shootings

CHICAGO Authorities are investigating the shooting deaths of five people in a single day of bloodshed in Chicago.

Police Officer Daniel O'Brien says Saturday's first killing occurred at around 2:15 a.m. on the city's west side when a gunman opened fire on two men who were sitting in a parked car, killing one and wounding the other.

Investigators say a few hours later, someone opened fire on three men near a South Side eatery, killing two of them and wounding the third.

Detectives were called to the scene of another shooting Saturday afternoon in which a man in his 30s and a teenager were shot to death. There had been no arrests.

Chicago's homicide count eclipsed 500 last year for the first time since 2008.

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Squatter, Bank of America Battle for $2.5M Mansion

Bank of America is taking a Florida man to court after he attempted to use an antiquated state law to legally take possession of a $2.5 million mansion that is currently owned by the bank.

Andre "Loki" Barbosa has lived in a five-bedroom Boca Raton, Fla., waterside property since July, and police have reportedly been unable to remove him.

The Brazilian national, 23, who reportedly refers to himself as "Loki Boy," cites Florida's "adverse possession" law, in which a party may acquire title from another by openly occupying their land and paying real property tax for at least seven years.

The house is listed as being owned by Bank of America as of July 2012, and that an adverse possession was filed in July. After Bank of America foreclosed on the property last year, the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office was notified that Barbosa would be moving in, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The Sun-Sentinel reported that he posted a notice in the front window of the house naming him as a "living beneficiary to the Divine Estate being superior of commerce and usury."
On Facebook, a man named Andre Barbosa calls the property "Templo de Kamisamar."

After Barbosa gained national attention for his brazen attempt, Bank of America filed an injunction on Jan. 23 to evict Barbosa and eight unidentified occupants.

In the civil complaint, Bank of America said Barbosa and other tenants "unlawfully entered the property" and "refused to permit the Plaintiff agents entry, use, and possession of its property." In addition to eviction, Bank of America is asking for $15,000 in damages to be paid to cover attorney's expenses.

Police were called Dec. 26 to the home but did not remove Barbosa, according to the Sentinel. Barbosa reportedly presented authorities with the adverse possession paperwork at the time.

Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Povery Law Center, says police officers may be disinclined to take action even if they are presented with paperwork that is invalid.

"A police officer walks up to someone who is claiming a house now belongs to him, without any basis at all, is handed a big sheaf of documents, which are incomprehensible," Potok said. "I think very often the officers ultimately feel that they're forced to go back to headquarters and try to figure out what's going on before they can actually toss someone in the slammer."

A neighbor of the Boca property, who asked not be named, told ABCNews.com that he entered the empty home just before Christmas to find four people inside, one of whom said the group is establishing an embassy for their mission, and that families would be moving in and out of the property. Barbosa was also among them.

The neighbor said he believes that Barbosa is a "patsy."

"This young guy is caught up in this thing," the neighbor said. "I think it's going on on a bigger scale."

Barbosa could not be reached for comment.

The neighbor said that although the lights have been turned on at the house, the water has not, adding that this makes it clear it is not a permanent residence. The neighbor also said the form posted in the window is "total gibberish," which indicated that the house is an embassy, and that those who enter must present two forms of identification, and respect the rights of its indigenous people.

"I think it's a group of people that see an opportunity to get some money from the bank," the neighbor said. "If they're going to hold the house ransom, then the bank is going to have to go through an eviction process.

"They're taking advantage of banks, where the right hand doesn't know where the left hand is," the neighbor said. "They can't clap."

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