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Post by Eagles Disobey on Sept 17, 2009 16:38:19 GMT 4
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Post by iris on Sept 17, 2009 18:55:02 GMT 4
Thank you for the interesting article about the "Bermuda Triangle".
Lots of love,
Iris
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Post by emeraldsun on Sept 17, 2009 21:48:16 GMT 4
New Theory Nixes "Dark Energy": Says Time is Disappearing from the Universe [/b] September 13, 2009 www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/09/is-time-slowly-disappearin.htmlBiocentric Remember a little thing called the space-time continuum? Well what if the time part of the equation was literally running out? New evidence is suggesting that time is slowly disappearing from our universe, and will one day vanish completely. This radical new theory may explain a cosmological mystery that has baffled scientists for years. Scientists previously have measured the light from distant exploding stars to show that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. They assumed that these supernovae are spreading apart faster as the universe ages. Physicists also assumed that a kind of anti-gravitational force must be driving the galaxies apart, and started to call this unidentified force "dark energy". However, to this day no one actually knows what dark energy is, or where it comes from. Professor Jose Senovilla, and his colleagues at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, have proposed a mind-bending alternative. They propose that there is no such thing as dark energy at all, and we’re looking at things backwards. Senovilla proposes that we have been fooled into thinking the expansion of the universe is accelerating, when in reality, time itself is slowing down. At an everyday level, the change would not be perceptible. However, it would be obvious from cosmic scale measurements tracking the course of the universe over billions of years. The change would be infinitesimally slow from a human perspective, but in terms of the vast perspective of cosmology, the study of ancient light from suns that shone billions of years ago, it could easily be measured The team's proposal, which will be published in the journal Physical Review D, dismisses dark energy as fiction. Instead, Prof Senovilla says, the appearance of acceleration is caused by time itself gradually slowing down, like a clock with a run-down battery. “We do not say that the expansion of the universe itself is an illusion," he explains. "What we say it may be an illusion is the acceleration of this expansion - that is, the possibility that the expansion is, and has been, increasing its rate." If time gradually slows "but we naively kept using our equations to derive the changes of the expansion with respect of 'a standard flow of time', then the simple models that we have constructed in our paper show that an "effective accelerated rate of the expansion" takes place." Currently, astronomers are able to discern the expansion speed of the universe using the so-called "red shift" technique. This technique relies on the understanding that stars moving away appear redder in color than ones moving towards us. Scientists look for supernovae of certain types that provide a sort of benchmark. However, the accuracy of these measurements depends on time remaining invariable throughout the universe. If time is slowing down, according to this new theory, our solitary time dimension is slowly turning into a new space dimension. Therefore the far-distant, ancient stars seen by cosmologists would from our perspective, look as though they were accelerating. "Our calculations show that we would think that the expansion of the universe is accelerating," says Prof Senovilla. The theory bases it’s idea on one particular variant of superstring theory, in which our universe is confined to the surface of a membrane, or brane, floating in a higher-dimensional space, known as the "bulk". In billions of years, time would cease to be time altogether. "Then everything will be frozen, like a snapshot of one instant, forever," Senovilla told New Scientist magazine. "Our planet will be long gone by then." Though radical and in many way unprecedented, these ideas are not without support. Gary Gibbons, a cosmologist at Cambridge University, say the concept has merit. "We believe that time emerged during the Big Bang, and if time can emerge, it can also disappear - that's just the reverse effect." Posted by Rebecca Sato. Related Galaxy posts: Beyond Weird Science: General Relativity Expert Believes Humans Could Master Time Travel This Century Weird Science: Can Time Move Backwards? "Star Trek" Warp Speeds a Reality? Scientists Claim Quantum Tunneling Exceeds Speed of Light Sources: ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVw4s04zG-RxqVoKjwLps7coom8Aspace.newscientist.com/article/mg19626354.000-is-time-slowing-down.htmlwww.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/18/scitime118.xml[/quote]Hiya Noddie!
There appears to be an "explosion" of new theories lately referencing this very subject.
Personally, I think someone or some "groups" are tossing puzzle pieces up in the air because they aren't willing to "think outside of the universe"... ...as in they're stuck in the "one universe" rut.
How "confining and finite"...
If the <Insert latest pile of computer simulations, scientific interpretations and a dash of salt[/i] > doesn't fit the much sought after "Universal Theory of Life" (you know, the "Ultimate Theory of Everything"), then it couldn't possibly be "IT"...whatever "IT" is. And, unfortunately, for some scientists the "IT" would be the "Nobel Prize for Creation".
Duhhh...
Maybe it isn't so much that "Time" is running out. Perhaps their "funding" is...
[/b][/color][/quote] Here's another interesting theory being tossed around. Thanks for both the article and comment. Nanosatellite to Test Life's Handedness in Space Molecules vital to life have been detected in outer space and isolated in meteorites and comets. Some of this material that rained down on Earth may have jump-started biology. If so, these space seeds also may have planted a particular molecular orientation, or "handedness," that spread to the world's first creatures. New research is studying how this handedness could arise in space. Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, exist in two so-called "chiral" forms that are mirror reflections of each other, like a left and right hand. For some unknown reason, organisms use left-handed amino acids almost exclusively in making proteins (the other mirror image, while rare, is sometimes used in other processes). "Outside of biology the ratio of these chiral forms is 50-50, so we want to understand the starting point of life's preference for left-handed amino acids," says Orlando Santos of NASA Ames Research Center. Santos and his colleagues are designing a small satellite that would carry up biologically relevant molecules to see what effects space has on a sample's handedness, and whether this could explain the origins of homochirality. "Other researchers in this field have tried to reproduce space conditions in a lab," Santos says. "But artificial systems are just that. We want to test the theories in a natural environment." The project is part of the Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development and Mission Concept Studies. In a follow-up story, Astrobiology Magazine will profile another NASA-supported experiment that hopes to address how handedness in space might be delivered to the ground. Meteor impact The evidence for a space origin for homochirality comes from meteorites. Several of these space rocks contain amino acids, and in a few cases the left-handed amino acids have outnumbered the right-handed ones by as much as 15 percent. "There is no doubt about the left-handed excess in meteorites," says Sandra Pizzarello of Arizona State University, who has done extensive analysis of various meteorite samples. She has found that they contain higher than normal levels of the isotopes deuterium and carbon-13, which would argue that the molecules came from space and are not simply contaminants from Earth. "The isotope ratios imply that at least parts of each molecule formed in a cold space environment at less than 50 degrees above absolute zero," says George Cooper of NASA Ames. Rest of article here: www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090917-am-life-handedness.html
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Post by emeraldsun on Sept 17, 2009 21:54:03 GMT 4
Six Volcanoes Erupt in Russia 2009-9-17 4:2686 (snip) Six volcanoes are currently erupting in Russia's remote Kamchatka region. Volcanologist Yaroslav Muraviyev says so much activity was last recorded 55 years ago. He says the number of eruptions is increasing all over the world. [Yaroslav Muraviyev, Deputy Director of Science, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka Institute]: "We have seen two, three, up to five volcanoes erupting simultaneously, but we have six volcanoes erupting this year and it is not just happening here, this is a global trend." Despite the obvious dangers, there is mixed reaction among local people. Olga Shepetovskaya says the volcanic ash improves her vegetables. [Olga Shepetovskaya, Local Resident]: "Some people are saying that this ash brings natural mineral fertilizers. When we first came here the snow was grey and everything was melting in spring time, fertilizing the soil. Just take a look around and you will see that the plants are flourishing at the bottom of the volcano." Rest of article is here: english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_asia/2009-09-17/393060211895.htmlGreat monotoring site here for those interested: National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications Emergency and Disaster Information Services (EDIS) Budapest Hungary hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php
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Post by emeraldsun on Sept 17, 2009 22:29:38 GMT 4
New Theory Nixes "Dark Energy": Says Time is Disappearing from the Universe [/b] September 13, 2009 www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/09/is-time-slowly-disappearin.htmlBiocentric Remember a little thing called the space-time continuum? Well what if the time part of the equation was literally running out? New evidence is suggesting that time is slowly disappearing from our universe, and will one day vanish completely. This radical new theory may explain a cosmological mystery that has baffled scientists for years. Scientists previously have measured the light from distant exploding stars to show that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. They assumed that these supernovae are spreading apart faster as the universe ages. Physicists also assumed that a kind of anti-gravitational force must be driving the galaxies apart, and started to call this unidentified force "dark energy". However, to this day no one actually knows what dark energy is, or where it comes from. Professor Jose Senovilla, and his colleagues at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, have proposed a mind-bending alternative. They propose that there is no such thing as dark energy at all, and we’re looking at things backwards. Senovilla proposes that we have been fooled into thinking the expansion of the universe is accelerating, when in reality, time itself is slowing down. At an everyday level, the change would not be perceptible. However, it would be obvious from cosmic scale measurements tracking the course of the universe over billions of years. The change would be infinitesimally slow from a human perspective, but in terms of the vast perspective of cosmology, the study of ancient light from suns that shone billions of years ago, it could easily be measured The team's proposal, which will be published in the journal Physical Review D, dismisses dark energy as fiction. Instead, Prof Senovilla says, the appearance of acceleration is caused by time itself gradually slowing down, like a clock with a run-down battery. “We do not say that the expansion of the universe itself is an illusion," he explains. "What we say it may be an illusion is the acceleration of this expansion - that is, the possibility that the expansion is, and has been, increasing its rate." If time gradually slows "but we naively kept using our equations to derive the changes of the expansion with respect of 'a standard flow of time', then the simple models that we have constructed in our paper show that an "effective accelerated rate of the expansion" takes place." Currently, astronomers are able to discern the expansion speed of the universe using the so-called "red shift" technique. This technique relies on the understanding that stars moving away appear redder in color than ones moving towards us. Scientists look for supernovae of certain types that provide a sort of benchmark. However, the accuracy of these measurements depends on time remaining invariable throughout the universe. If time is slowing down, according to this new theory, our solitary time dimension is slowly turning into a new space dimension. Therefore the far-distant, ancient stars seen by cosmologists would from our perspective, look as though they were accelerating. "Our calculations show that we would think that the expansion of the universe is accelerating," says Prof Senovilla. The theory bases it’s idea on one particular variant of superstring theory, in which our universe is confined to the surface of a membrane, or brane, floating in a higher-dimensional space, known as the "bulk". In billions of years, time would cease to be time altogether. "Then everything will be frozen, like a snapshot of one instant, forever," Senovilla told New Scientist magazine. "Our planet will be long gone by then." Though radical and in many way unprecedented, these ideas are not without support. Gary Gibbons, a cosmologist at Cambridge University, say the concept has merit. "We believe that time emerged during the Big Bang, and if time can emerge, it can also disappear - that's just the reverse effect." Posted by Rebecca Sato. Related Galaxy posts: Beyond Weird Science: General Relativity Expert Believes Humans Could Master Time Travel This Century Weird Science: Can Time Move Backwards? "Star Trek" Warp Speeds a Reality? Scientists Claim Quantum Tunneling Exceeds Speed of Light Sources: ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVw4s04zG-RxqVoKjwLps7coom8Aspace.newscientist.com/article/mg19626354.000-is-time-slowing-down.htmlwww.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/18/scitime118.xml[/quote]Saul: The Illusion Loses Its Appeal by John SmallmanTime is a concept with which humanity is besotted. It is a major component of your illusory reality, and just as unreal. Releasing yourselves from the hold it has on you is very important because it is one of the foundations of the illusion. Once you let go of your belief in linear time — of sequences of events, of causes and effects — the illusion will start to lose its appearance of solidity. It really is very fluid and flexible, and you are not anchored in its unfoldment, even though you believe that you are, and therefore experience it as flowing past you as you gradually decay and crumble. The illusion will dissolve when you no longer believe in it, and time along with it. But you will not, because you are immortal, eternally living sentient beings, presently playing with the illusion. The illusion is losing its appeal for you, as it seems that you are becoming increasingly controlled and manipulated by its rules of engagement. You appear to be being swept along by time at a pace over which you have no control, and which leads to your destruction. It is not a happy situation; you want to live; you hope you will achieve happiness and security, and yet you know that your life will be terminated and that there is nothing you can do about it. Maybe you believe in reincarnation, that you have had previous lives and will have further ones as you tread the wheel of karma. But that is not a very satisfactory situation because you keep losing your identity, which appears to be the one constant and most necessary experience that you can rely on in your short life. And anyway the universe is winding down, and life on Earth will soon be impossible because the environment is becoming severely unbalanced and will no longer provide conditions that can support life. And it is all due to the ravages of time. As I have said before, if you are completely focused on something you are doing and enjoying, you become unaware of passing time. Your body may demand your attention, seeking food, drink, or a bathroom break; otherwise you could spend a very long time totally unaware of time passing. That is the experience of living in the ‘now’ — the eternal unchanging moment of pure awareness, without care or worry. However, as long as you believe in the illusion and continue to rebuild it in every moment, you will find yourself constrained by the limits the physical body appears to impose on you; and as time passes, you will apparently decay and crumble into nothing. Rest of article here: johnsmallman.wordpress.com/
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Post by towhom on Sept 18, 2009 7:16:45 GMT 4
Solar Cycle Driven by More than Sunspots; Sun Also Bombards Earth with High-Speed Streams of WindNational Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) September 17, 2009www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2009/solarminimum.jspBOULDER — Challenging conventional wisdom, new research finds that the number of sunspots provides an incomplete measure of changes in the Sun's impact on Earth over the course of the 11-year solar cycle. The study, led by scientists at the High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Michigan, finds that Earth was bombarded last year with high levels of solar energy at a time when the Sun was in an unusually quiet phase and sunspots had virtually disappeared. "The Sun continues to surprise us," says NCAR scientist Sarah Gibson, the lead author. "The solar wind can hit Earth like a fire hose even when there are virtually no sunspots."The study, also written by scientists at NOAA and NASA, is being published today in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. It was funded by NASA and by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor. Scientists for centuries have used sunspots, which are areas of concentrated magnetic fields that appear as dark patches on the solar surface, to determine the approximately 11-year solar cycle. At solar maximum, the number of sunspots peaks. During this time, intense solar flares occur daily and geomagnetic storms frequently buffet Earth, knocking out satellites and disrupting communications networks.When the solar cycle was at a minimum level in 1996, the Sun sprayed Earth with relatively few, weak high-speed streams containing turbulent magnetic fields (left). In contrast, the Sun bombarded Earth with stronger and longer-lasting streams last year (right) even though the solar cycle was again at a minimum level. The streams affected Earth's outer radiation belt, posing a threat to earth-orbiting satellites, and triggered space weather disturbances, lighting up auroras in the sky at higher latitudes. [ENLARGE] (Illustration by Janet Kozyra with images from NASA, courtesy Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics.)Gibson and her colleagues focused instead on another process by which the Sun discharges energy. The team analyzed high-speed streams within the solar wind that carry turbulent magnetic fields out into the solar system.
When those streams blow by Earth, they intensify the energy of the planet's outer radiation belt. This can create serious hazards for weather, navigation, and communications satellites that travel at high altitudes within the outer radiation belts, while also threatening astronauts in the International Space Station. Auroral storms light up the night sky repeatedly at high latitudes as the streams move past, driving mega-ampere electrical currents about 75 miles above Earth's surface. All that energy heats and expands the upper atmosphere. This expansion pushes denser air higher, slowing down satellites and causing them to drop to lower altitudes. Scientists previously thought that the streams largely disappeared as the solar cycle approached minimum. But when the study team compared measurements within the current solar minimum interval, taken in 2008, with measurements of the last solar minimum in 1996, they found that Earth in 2008 was continuing to resonate with the effects of the streams. Although the current solar minimum has fewer sunspots than any minimum in 75 years, the Sun's effect on Earth's outer radiation belt, as measured by electron fluxes, was more than three times greater last year than in 1996.Gibson said that observations this year show that the winds have finally slowed, almost two years after sunspots reached the levels of last cycle's minimum. The authors note that more research is needed to understand the impacts of these high-speed streams on the planet. The study raises questions about how the streams might have affected Earth in the past when the Sun went through extended periods of low sunspot activity, such as a period known as the Maunder minimum that lasted from about 1645 to 1715."The fact that Earth can continue to ring with solar energy has implications for satellites and sensitive technological systems," Gibson says. "This will keep scientists busy bringing all the pieces together." Buffeting Earth with streams of energyFor the new study, the scientists analyzed information gathered from an array of space- and ground-based instruments during two international scientific projects: the Whole Sun Month in the late summer of 1996 and the Whole Heliosphere Interval in the early spring of 2008. The solar cycle was at a minimal stage during both the study periods, with few sunspots in 1996 and even fewer in 2008.
The team found that strong, long, and recurring high-speed streams of charged particles buffeted Earth in 2008. In contrast, Earth encountered weaker and more sporadic streams in 1996. As a result, the planet was more affected by the Sun in 2008 than in 1996, as measured by such variables as the strength of electron fluxes in the outer radiation belt, the velocity of the solar wind in the vicinity of Earth, and the periodic behavior of auroras (the Northern and Southern Lights) as they responded to repeated high-speed streams.The prevalence of high-speed streams during this solar minimum appears to be related to the current structure of the Sun. As sunspots became less common over the last few years, large coronal holes lingered in the surface of the Sun near its equator. The high-speed streams that blow out of those holes engulfed Earth during 55 percent of the study period in 2008, compared to 31 percent of the study period in 1996. A single stream of charged particles can last for as long as 7 to 10 days. At their peak, the accumulated impact of the streams during one year can inject as much energy into Earth's environment as massive eruptions from the Sun's surface can during a year at the peak of a solar cycle, says co-author Janet Kozyra of the University of Michigan.The streams strike Earth periodically, spraying out in full force like water from a fire hose as the Sun revolves. When the magnetic fields in the solar winds point in a direction opposite to the magnetic lines in Earth's magnetosphere, they have their strongest effect. The strength and speed of the magnetic fields in the high-speed streams can also affect Earth's response.The authors speculate that the high number of low-latitude coronal holes during this solar minimum may be related to a weakness in the Sun's overall magnetic field. The Sun in 2008 had smaller polar coronal holes than in 1996, but high-speed streams that escape from the Sun's poles do not travel in the direction of Earth. "The Sun-Earth interaction is complex, and we haven't yet discovered all the consequences for the Earth's environment of the unusual solar winds this cycle," Kozyra says. "The intensity of magnetic activity at Earth in this extremely quiet solar minimum surprised us all. The new observations from last year are changing our understanding of how solar quiet intervals affect the Earth and how and why this might change from cycle to cycle." About the article Title: "If the Sun is so quiet, why is the Earth ringing? A comparison of two solar minimum intervals"
Authors: Sarah Gibson, Janet Kozyra, Giuliana de Toma, Barbara Emory, Terry Onsager, and Barbara Thompson
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics
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Post by towhom on Sept 18, 2009 7:33:07 GMT 4
National new biology initiative offers potential for 'remarkable and far-reaching benefits'EurekAlert Public Release: 17-Sep-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/naos-nnb091709.phpWASHINGTON -- A report released today by the National Research Council calls on the United States to launch a new multiagency, multiyear, and multidisciplinary initiative to capitalize on the extraordinary advances recently made in biology and to accelerate new breakthroughs that could solve some of society's most pressing problems -- particularly in the areas of food, environment, energy, and health. The report was requested by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and U.S. Department of Energy, which asked the committee that wrote the report to look at how best to build upon recent scientific developments such as the Human Genome Project. Advances in many technologies have allowed biologists to observe life at levels of detail that were once thought impossible. Interpreting the vast amounts of data being generated by these innovations and developing practical solutions to major challenges will require collaboration among scientists and engineers from many disciplines. And despite the potential of these recent advancements, the committee said that the design, manipulation, and prediction of complex biological systems needed for practical applications are "well beyond current capabilities." The committee used the term "new biology" to describe an approach to research where physicists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and other scientists are integrated into the field of biology to create the type of research community that can tackle society's big problems. "'The new biologist' is not a scientist who knows a little bit about all disciplines, but a scientist with deep knowledge in one discipline and a 'working fluency' in several," the report says. To be sure, biologists are already working successfully in many instances with other scientists and engineers. But for collaborations to take advantage of advances in imaging, high-throughput technologies, computational science and technology, and others, a major new initiative is needed, the committee concluded. The national new biology initiative should have a timeline of at least 10 years and funding in addition to current research budgets, and it should be an interagency effort to reflect the interdisciplinary approach to research, the committee emphasized. The report also underscores the importance of making information technologies a priority in the initiative given that information is the "fundamental currency" of the new biology. "A new biology initiative would be a daring addition to the nation's research portfolio, but we believe the potential benefits are remarkable and far-reaching," said Phillip Sharp, co-chair of the committee that wrote the report and Institute Professor for the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. The report describes four broad challenges where the new initiative could accelerate the emergence of an integrated approach to biology and bear its "first fruits." For starters, it could meet food security challenges by developing the capacity to quickly adapt plants to any growing conditions. The initiative also could be used to address environmental issues by making it possible to monitor ecosystems and diagnose and repair ecosystem damage. On the energy front, the new biology initiative could speed the development of alternatives to fossil fuels by optimizing systems for turning plant cellulose into biofuel. A fourth goal should be to advance so-called personalized medicine by making it possible to monitor and treat a person's health in a manner that is tailored to that individual, the goal being to provide individually predictive surveillance and care. "We need to set big goals, and let the problems drive the science," said committee co-chair Thomas Connelly Jr., executive vice president and a member of the office of the chief executive for E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. The report says that by targeting society's major challenges, the initiative would provide an opportunity to attract students who want to solve real-world problems to scientific fields. The initiative will need to devote resources to interdisciplinary education to support the training of new biologists, the report adds. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are independent, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under an 1863 congressional charter. Committee members, who serve pro bono as volunteers, are chosen by the Academies for each study based on their expertise and experience and must satisfy the Academies' conflict-of-interest standards. The resulting consensus reports undergo external peer review before completion. For more information, visit national-academies.org/studycommitteprocess.pdf. A committee roster follows.
Copies of A NEW BIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: ENSURING THE UNITED STATES LEADS THE COMING BIOLOGY REVOLUTION are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at WWW.NAP.EDU. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
[ This news release and report are available at NATIONAL-ACADEMIES.ORG ]
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCILDivision on Earth and Life Studies Board on Life Sciences COMMITTEE ON NEW BIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY THOMAS M. CONNELLY JR. (CO-CHAIR)Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. Wilmington, Del. PHILLIP A. SHARP1,2 (CO-CHAIR)Institute Professor Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge DENNIS AUSIELLO2Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine Harvard Medical School; and Physician in Chief Department of Medicine Massachusetts General Hospital Boston MARIANNE BRONNER-FRASERAlbert Billings Ruddock Professor of Biology Division of Biology California Institute of Technology Pasadena INGRID C. BURKEDirector Haub School and Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, and Professor Department of Botany University of Wyoming Laramie JOHN E. BURRISPresident Burroughs Wellcome Fund Research Triangle, N.C. JONATHAN A. EISENProfessor Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility University of California Davis ANTHONY C. JANETOSDirector Joint Global Change Research Institute University of Maryland College Park RICHARD M. KARP2,3Senior Research Scientist International Computer Science Institute; and University Professor University of California Berkeley PETER S. KIM1,2President Merck Research Laboratories North Wales, Pa. DOUGLAS A. LAUFFENBURGERWhitaker Professor of Bioengineering and Head Department of Biological Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MARY E. LIDSTROMVice Provost for Research, and Professor of Microbiology Office of Research University of Washington Seattle WENDELL LIMInvestigator Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology University of California San Francisco MARGARET JEAN MCFALL-NGAIProfessor Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology University of Wisconsin Madison ELLIOT M. MEYEROWITZ1George W. Beadle Professor of Biology and Chair Division of Biology California Institute of Technology Pasadena KEITH R. YAMAMOTO1,2Executive Vice Dean School of Medicine, and Professor Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology University of California San Francisco STAFF ANN REIDStudy Director 1 Member, National Academy of Sciences; 2 Member, Institute of Medicine; 3 Member, National Academy of Engineering
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Post by towhom on Sept 18, 2009 7:39:11 GMT 4
Researchers make rare meteorite find using new camera network in Australian desertEurekAlert Public Release: 17-Sep-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/icl-rmr091609.phpResearchers have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered where in the Solar System it came from, in a very rare finding published today in the journal Science. Meteorites are the only surviving physical record of the formation of our Solar System and by analysing them researchers can glean valuable information about the conditions that existed when the early Solar System was being formed. However, information about where individual meteorites originated, and how they were moving around the Solar System prior to falling to Earth, is available for only a dozen of around 1100 documented meteorite falls over the past two hundred years. Dr Phil Bland, the lead author of today's study from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, said: "We are incredibly excited about our new finding. Meteorites are the most analysed rocks on Earth but it's really rare for us to be able to tell where they came from. Trying to interpret what happened in the early Solar System without knowing where meteorites are from is like trying to interpret the geology of Britain from random rocks dumped in your back yard." The new meteorite, which is about the size of cricket ball, is the first to be retrieved since researchers from Imperial College London, Ondrejov Observatory in the Czech Republic, and the Western Australian Museum, set up a trial network of cameras in the Nullarbor Desert in Western Australia in 2006. The researchers aim to use these cameras to find new meteorites, and work out where in the Solar System they came from, by tracking the fireballs that they form in the sky. The new meteorite was found on the first day of searching using the new network, by the first search expedition, within 100m of the predicted site of the fall. This is the first time a meteorite fall has been predicted using only the data from dedicated instruments. The meteorite appears to have been following an unusual orbit, or path around the Sun, prior to falling to Earth in July 2007, according to the researchers' calculations. The team believes that it started out as part of an asteroid in the innermost main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It then gradually evolved into an orbit around the Sun that was very similar to Earth's. The other meteorites that researchers have data for follow orbits that take them back, deep into the main asteroid belt.
The new meteorite is also unusual because it is composed of a rare type of basaltic igneous rock. The researchers say that its composition, together with the data about where the meteorite comes from, fits with a recent theory about how the building blocks for the terrestrial planets were formed. This theory suggests that the igneous parent asteroids for meteorites like today's formed deep in the inner Solar System, before being scattered out into the main asteroid belt. Asteroids are widely believed to be the building blocks for planets like the Earth so today's finding provides another clue about the origins of the Solar System. The researchers are hopeful that their new desert network could yield many more findings, following the success of their first meteorite search. Dr Bland added: "We're not the first team to set up a network of cameras to track fireballs, but other teams have encountered problems because meteorites are small rocks and they're hard to find in vegetated areas. Our solution was quite simple - build a fireball network in a place where it's easy to find them. The Nullarbour Desert is ideal because there's very little vegetation and dark rocks show up really easily on the light desert plain. "It was amazing to find a meteorite that we could track back to its origin in the asteroid belt on our first expedition using our small trial network. We're cautiously optimistic that this find could be the first of many and if that happens, each find may give us more clues about how the Solar System began," said Dr Bland. The researchers' network of cameras takes a single time-lapse picture every night to record any fireballs in the sky. When a meteorite falls, researchers can then use complex calculations to uncover what orbit the meteorite was following and where the meteorite is likely to have landed, so that they can retrieve it.
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Post by towhom on Sept 18, 2009 8:57:04 GMT 4
Blueprint for a Quantum Electric MotorTechnology Review / arXiv Blogs Friday, September 18, 2009www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24127/Place a couple of cold atoms in an alternating magnetic field and you've got a quantum version of an electric motor. How small can you make an electric motor? Today, Alexey Ponomarev from the University of Augsburg in Germany and a couple of pals describe how to do it with just two atoms. Yep, an electric motor made of just two ultracold atoms. Their motor consists of one neutral atom and one charged atom trapped in a ring-shaped optical lattice. The atoms jump from one site in the lattice to the next as they travel round the ring. Placing this ring in an alternating magnetic field creates the conditions necessary to keep the charged atom moving round the the ring. However, starting the motor is another matter. Kickstarting the motor requires some kind of asymmetry which is provided by a combination of a symmetry-breaking driving field and the presence of the neutral atom, which the charged atom effectively pushes off against. The result is a quantum electric ac-motor which Ponomarev and Co. go on to prove can do useful work. Their paper is the first detailed analysis of how such a motor works and under what conditions it best works but curiously, it turns out that a team from the University of Glasgow in the UK actually built one of these quantum motors back in 2007, which they called an optical ferris wheel for ultracold atoms.The next step say Ponomarev and Co. is to attach the motor to a nanoscopic resonator, such as a spring board or nanomushroom, and make it vibrate. If you can do that, they say, you'd be powering a classical object using a quantum motor. Now there's a trick. Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0909.2813: Quantum Machine Using Cold Atoms
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Post by nodstar on Sept 18, 2009 12:21:56 GMT 4
Harvard study: 45,000 deaths linked to lack of insurance[/SIZE][/B] New Mexico Business Weekly albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2009/09/14/daily52.htmlThursday, September 17, 2009, 6:40 Nearly 45,000 people die each year due to a lack of health insurance, according to a study published on Thursday in the online edition of the American Journal of Public Health. The study, carried out by Harvard researchers and funded by a research grant, found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from 25 percent in 1993. The study was released by Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization that favors a single-payer system. It takes into account socioeconomics, health behaviors and baseline health. The bottom line is that the uninsured are more likely to go without the kind of care that can save their life. “We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes and heart disease ¬ but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Andrew Wilper, who now teaches at the University of Washington Medical School. The study analyzed data from national surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It assessed death rates after taking into account education, income and other factors such as smoking, drinking and obesity. According to U.S. Census figures released last week, the number of uninsured people rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008. The study disputes a previous one conducted by The Institute of Medicine, which, in 2002, estimated that some 18,000 Americans between the ages of 25 and 64 died each year because of a lack of health insurance. However, the study’s authors concede that the research was conducted “at a single point in time” and that they did not validate their subjects’ insurance status. It also pointed to other limitations such as how much value individuals place on their health and on healthy behaviors. South Florida Business Journal
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Post by nodstar on Sept 18, 2009 12:30:04 GMT 4
Family health costs outpace inflation, wage growth[/SIZE][/B] www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1237384.htmlPosted on Thursday, 09.17.09 BY TONY PUGH tpugh@mcclatchydc.com WASHINGTON -- The average cost of job-based family health insurance climbed 5 percent to $13,375 in 2009, making this the 10th straight year that healthcare premiums have increased faster than workers' wages and overall inflation have. Insurance costs have increased 131 percent since 1999, when a year of family coverage cost about $5,791, according to the 2009 Employer Health Benefits Survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. That supercharged growth rate far outpaces the 38 percent increase in wages and 28 percent growth of inflation over the same period. The inability of consumers and employers to finance that growth in cost is helping to drive the heated debate over how to revamp the nation's heathcare system. Twenty-one percent of firms with insurance coverage reduced benefits or increased employee cost-sharing due to the recession, the survey found. Fifteen percent increased their workers' shares of the monthly premium. Employers typically pay about $9,860 of the standard $13,375 family policy, the survey found. Workers pick up the rest, about $3,515 or 27 percent. That's the same share as last year. The cost of single coverage increased slightly this year, averaging about $4,824 compared to $4,704 last year. Employees pay about 17 percent of the cost, or $779 toward the coverage. The rising costs mean that a year of family coverage, on average, now costs employers about $15,000, nearly as much as a year of labor from a full-time minimum wage worker, said Drew Altman, the president and chief executive of the Kaiser Family Foundation. ``It just underscores why health insurance is increasingly unaffordable for working people and for employers, especially small employers,'' Altman said.
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Post by galaxygirl on Sept 18, 2009 16:29:53 GMT 4
Swine flu deaths show this flu is different: expertswww.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE58E6NZ20090915By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:17pm EDTWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Autopsies on people who have died from the new pandemic H1N1 flu show this virus is different from seasonal influenza, even if it has not yet caused more deaths, experts told a meeting on Tuesday. Americans who died from swine flu had infections deep in their lungs, Dr. Sherif Zaki of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a meeting of flu experts, including damage to the alveoli -- the structures in the lung that deliver oxygen to the blood. This in turn caused what is known as acute respiratory distress syndrome -- an often fatal development that leaves patients gasping for breath. The World Health Organization has confirmed 3,205 deaths globally from swine flu but experts agree all estimates of the extent of the pandemic are grossly understated because so few patients are ever actually tested. Seasonal flu kills, too -- about 250,000 to 500,000 cases a year globally, according to the WHO. But not in the same way as swine flu, which unlike seasonal flu frequently causes severe disease in young adults and children. "It is very rarely you see what we call diffuse alveolar damage in fatal seasonal influenza," Zaki told a meeting sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Medicine, which advises government on health matters. Seasonal flu causes bronchitis and other upper respiratory disease. But Zaki, the chief infectious disease pathologist at CDC, said the new virus had burrowed into the lungs of the 90 or so people he examined after they died, and they had huge amounts of the virus in their blood. "This is almost exactly what we see with avian flu," Zaki said. "This looks like avian flu on steroids." EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS Dr. Yoshi Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin said tests in monkeys showed the virus lives and replicates 1,000-fold better in the lungs than does seasonal flu. He said the No. 1 drug of choice against H1N1 -- Roche AG's and Gilead Sciences Inc's Tamiflu -- lowered the so-called viral load of virus in the lungs just enough to help the body fight back. Experimental flu drugs lower it even more, notably Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd's CS 8958 and another drug called T-705 or favipiravir, made by Fujifilm Holdings Corp unit Toyama Chemical Co, Kawaoka said. Zaki said 90 percent of the fatalities he looked at had some condition that would predispose them to serious disease. They had a median age of 38 and one victim was a two-month-old infant who died within a day of getting sick. Nearly half -- 46 percent -- were obese, many had fatty liver disease, 27 percent had heart disease and 22 percent had asthma, he said. Dr. Guillermo Ruiz-Palacios of Mexico's National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition said many Mexican patients with severe disease were also obese. In addition, patients came in late for treatment and many were infected with a second common virus, called parainfluenza virus. ewer than a third of the U.S. deaths, 29 percent, had a so-called secondary bacterial infection, usually Streptococcus pneumoniae, Zaki said. Ruiz-Palacios also said the new virus can be found in the urine and feces of patients, something that may affect how it spreads. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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Post by towhom on Sept 19, 2009 5:20:33 GMT 4
Time-Resolved Transcriptome Analysis of Bacillus subtilis Responding to Valine, Glutamate, and GlutaminePLoS ONE Received: June 10, 2009; Accepted: August 21, 2009; Published: September 18, 2009www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007073AbstractMicroorganisms can restructure their transcriptional output to adapt to environmental conditions by sensing endogenous metabolite pools. In this paper, an Agilent customized microarray representing 4,106 genes was used to study temporal transcript profiles of Bacillus subtilis in response to valine, glutamate and glutamine pulses over 24 h. A total of 673, 835, and 1135 amino-acid-regulated genes were identified having significantly changed expression at one or more time points in response to valine, glutamate, and glutamine, respectively, including genes involved in cell wall, cellular import, metabolism of amino-acids and nucleotides, transcriptional regulation, flagellar motility, chemotaxis, phage proteins, sporulation, and many genes of unknown function. Different amino acid treatments were compared in terms of both the global temporal profiles and the 5-minute quick regulations, and between-experiment differential genes were identified. The highlighted genes were analyzed based on diverse sources of gene functions using a variety of computational tools, including T-profiler analysis, and hierarchical clustering. The results revealed the common and distinct modes of action of these three amino acids, and should help to elucidate the specific signaling mechanism of each amino acid as an effector. Complete article (interesting) available for download at the link displayed above.
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Post by towhom on Sept 19, 2009 5:46:35 GMT 4
This is a portion of the newsletter I received from my Congresswoman, Carol Shea-Porter. It's pretty disgusting:Dear Sally,
I wanted to send you a quick update on what has been happening in Washington.
This week Senator Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, released his draft proposal for health care reform. I am disappointed with the Senate Finance proposal. It does not have a public option, and it also taxes high cost insurance premiums. I continue to believe in a strong public option that will provide choice and competition for individuals and families seeking coverage. During his address to Congress, the President spoke about the need for additional alternatives in the marketplace, saying:Unfortunately, in 34 states, 75 percent of the insurance market is controlled by five or fewer companies. In Alabama, almost 90 percent is controlled by just one company. And without competition, the price of insurance goes up and quality goes down. And it makes it easier for insurance companies to treat their customers badly -- by cherry-picking the healthiest individuals and trying to drop the sickest, by overcharging small businesses who have no leverage, and by jacking up rates. New Hampshire is one of these states. In fact, 75% of the commercial market in New Hampshire is held by only two companies. Ensuring that an additional insurance option is available is key to ensuring real choice and competition for New Hampshire families. Needless to say, I am furious that the majority of the "Beanie Babies" from the "Hill of Beans" are NOT working for their employers - that would be the CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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Post by towhom on Sept 19, 2009 7:47:41 GMT 4
Disturbance Alters the Phylogenetic Composition and Structure of Plant Communities in an Old Field SystemPLoS ONE Received: July 21, 2009; Accepted: August 21, 2009; Published: September 18, 2009www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007071AbstractThe changes in phylogenetic composition and structure of communities during succession following disturbance can give us insights into the forces that are shaping communities over time. In abandoned agricultural fields, community composition changes rapidly when a field is plowed, and is thought to reflect a relaxation of competition due to the elimination of dominant species which take time to re-establish. Competition can drive phylogenetic overdispersion, due to phylogenetic conservation of ‘niche’ traits that allow species to partition resources. Therefore, undisturbed old field communities should exhibit higher phylogenetic dispersion than recently disturbed systems, which should be relatively ‘clustered’ with respect to phylogenetic relationships. Several measures of phylogenetic structure between plant communities were measured in recently plowed areas and nearby ‘undisturbed’ sites. There was no difference in the absolute values of these measures between disturbed and ‘undisturbed’ sites. However, there was a difference in the ‘expected’ phylogenetic structure between habitats, leading to significantly lower than expected phylogenetic diversity in disturbed plots, and no difference from random expectation in ‘undisturbed’ plots. This suggests that plant species characteristic of each habitat are fairly evenly distributed on the shared species pool phylogeny, but that once the initial sorting of species into the two habitat types has occurred, the processes operating on them affect each habitat differently. These results were consistent with an analysis of correlation between phylogenetic distance and co-occurrence indices of species pairs in the two habitat types. This study supports the notion that disturbed plots are more clustered than expected, rather than ‘undisturbed’ plots being more overdispersed, suggesting that disturbed plant communities are being more strongly influenced by environmental filtering of conserved niche traits. Complete article available for download at the link displayed above.
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