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Massachusetts physicist claims he solved mystery of how life emerged from matter


RT.com
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 14:21 UTC
Matter
© Reuters/Toby Melville
The origin of life is often attributed to luck or labeled as some kind of miracle, but one physicist believes that under the right conditions the creation of life is predictably unavoidable.

According to Jeremy England, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, matter naturally reorganizes itself to acquire the crucial physical characteristic of life - the ability to disperse great quantities of energy - when driven by an outside source such as the sun and bathed in the right atmospheric or oceanic conditions.

As the 31-year-old physicist explained to the science publication Quanta Magazine, if that's the case, if matter consistently changes to disperse more and more energy, then the existence of life "should be as unsurprising as rocks rolling downhill."

"You start with a random clump of atoms, and if you shine light on it for long enough, it should not be so surprising that you get a plant," England said.

The new theory posits that matter is most likely to react to the external energy sources that are bearing down on it. If a particular energy source is constantly surrounding a group of atoms, over time they will inevitably restructure themselves to better consume and disperse the energy around them. This process, England proposes, is the driving force that ultimately led to life.
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Comet

Mainstream science slowly catching on: a comet may have caused the winter of 536 to last for 10 years

Carolyn Cox
GeekoSystem
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 14:01 UTC
Game of thrones
Winter is coming....
Oh, that's why it's called the Dark Ages

General consensus is that the Dark Ages were the worst of all the ages. Unicorns went extinct, you were either a witch or had the plague, and oh yeah, winter lasted for ten years once.

A recent article in New Scientist is giving some scientific validity to the big chill recounted in ancient medieval texts such as this one:
"And it came about during this year that a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during this whole year, and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear nor such as it is accustomed to shed" - Procopius (Wars, 4.14.5)

Comment: Back in 2004 another team of scientists came to this conclusion and gave even more information:
The surprising result of the new work is just how small a comet is needed to cause such dramatic effects. The scientists calculate that a comet not much more than half a kilometre across could cause a global nuclear winter effect. This is significantly smaller than was previously thought.

Dr. Ward-Thompson said: "One of the exciting aspects of this work is that we have re-classified the size of comet that represents a global threat. This work shows that even a comet of only half a kilometre in size could have global consequences. Previously nothing less than a kilometre across was counted as a global threat. If such an event happened again today, then once again a large fraction of the earth's population could face starvation."

The comet impact caused crop failures and wide-spread starvation among the sixth century population. The timing coincides with the Justinian Plague, widely believed to be the first appearance of the Black Death in Europe. It is possible that the plague was so rampant and took hold so quickly because the population was already weakened by starvation.


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Info

What is Adam's rightful place in evolutionary history?


RedOrbit
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 12:32 UTC
Chromosomes
© Thinkstock
Our most common male ancestor walked the earth 209,000 years ago - earlier than scientists commonly thought - according to new research from the University of Sheffield.

The pioneering study, conducted by Dr Eran Elhaik from the University of Sheffield and Dr Dan Graur from the University of Houston, also debunked the discovery of the Y chromosome that supposedly predated humanity.

In the new research, published in the European Journal of Human Genetics, Dr Elhaik and Dr Graur used conventional biological models to date our most common male ancestor 'Adam' in his rightful place in evolutionary history. The ground breaking results showed that this is 9,000 years earlier than scientists originally believed.

Their findings put 'Adam' within the time frame of his other half 'Eve', the genetic maternal ancestor of mankind. This contradicts a recent study which had claimed the human Y chromosome originated in a different species through interbreeding which dates 'Adam' to be twice as old.

Debunking unscientific theories is not new to Dr Elhaik. Earlier this year he debunked Hammer's previous work on the unity of the Jewish genome and together with Dr Graur they refuted the proclamations made by the ENCODE project on junk DNA.
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Galaxy

Exploding star suddenly appears in the night sky- a supernova 'Holy Grail'

Megan Gannon
SPACE.com
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 10:54 UTC
An exploding star has suddenly appeared in the night sky, dazzling astronomers who haven't seen a new supernova so close to our solar system in more than 20 years.

In just the last few days, a the supernova emerged as a bright light in Messier 82 - also known as the Cigar Galaxy - about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, or the Great Bear. The supernova, which one astronomer described as a potential "Holy Grail" for scientists, was first discovered by students at the University College London.

Positioned between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, the new supernova should be easy for skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere to spot; it may even brighten enough to be visible through a small pair of binoculars, said astronomer Brad Tucker, of the Australian National University and the University of California, Berkeley. Beyond creating a skywatching spectacle, the cosmic event may also afford astronomers a rare opportunity to study an object that might help them understand dark energy.
Image
© UCL/University of London Observatory/Steve Fossey/Ben Cooke/Guy Pollack/Matthew Wilde/Thomas WrightThis comparison image shows a supernova suddenly appearing in the nearby galaxy M82.
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Comet 2

Is first 'asteroid' discovered in modern times, Ceres, turning into a 'comet'? Solar system's 'biggest' asteroid is 'spewing jets'


BBC
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 06:19 UTC
Image
Ceres: Asteroid, planet, comet, moon? Do official scientists really have any clue?
Observations of the Solar System's biggest asteroid suggest it is spewing plumes of water vapour into space.

Ceres has long been thought to contain substantial quantities of ice within its body, but this is the first time such releases have been detected.

The discovery was made by Europe's infrared Herschel space telescope, and is reported in the journal Nature.

Scientists believe the vapour is coming from dark coloured regions on Ceres' surface, but are not sure of the cause.

One idea is that surface, or near-surface, ice is being warmed by the Sun, turning it directly to a gas that then escapes to space.


Comment: This is absurd. If it is water and ice they're seeing, it cannot be "warmed" into a gas in the near-absolute zero of space! Ceres would have no atmosphere, remember?...


Comment: Since when is it "widely known" that asteroids hold water?

Until ten years ago, these same scientists believed water was only found on Earth!

Far more likely is that Ceres is electrically discharging...

Why didn't Comet ISON melt in the Sun? How NASA and Official Science got it all wrong (again)

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Ice Cube

Why did Antarctic expedition ship get stranded in ice?

Andrew Luck-Baker
BBC News
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 14:26 UTC
Image
The Akademik Shokalskiy was trapped in thick ice for 10 days
BBC producer Andrew Luck-Baker was on board a Russian research vessel when it became trapped in pack ice over Christmas. Here, Andrew, who was covering an expedition for the BBC World Service's Discovery programme, examines the events that led up to the ship being stranded.

As the members of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) reach the end of their travels together, investigations will soon begin to establish why their Russian expedition ship, the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, became trapped in thick and extensive pack ice for 10 days.

The ship's entrapment at Christmas time led to an Australian icebreaker being diverted from its own operations hundreds of kilometres along the coast and a Chinese icebreaker also coming to the rescue.

That vessel ended up stuck in the ice itself for many days. A smaller French icebreaker ship was also summoned to the scene. It retreated when it became clear that the ice was much too thick for it to help.

The 52 members of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition were trapped until 2 January when a helicopter team from the Chinese vessel airlifted the scientists, tourists and operational staff to the Aurora Australis.

The expedition leaders could have some tough questions to face about logistical shortcomings that may have put the vessel at increased risk of becoming trapped. These were operational errors and mishaps during a visit by scientists and tourists to a location close to the Antarctic shore on 23 December.

Ship insurance companies along with the Australian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre will be keen to establish what happened and whether human error contributed to the Akademik Shokalskiy becoming encased.

Comment: This silly tourist expedition put many people in danger and disrupted serious scientific research programs:
French Le Monde blasts Chris Turney's Antarctic joy ride for disrupting real Antarctic science!
Rescue efforts for trapped Antarctic voyage disrupt serious science
Ship of fools: Icebound expeditioners apologise for Antarctic rescue mission
'Stuck in our own experiment': Leader of trapped team insists polar ice is melting against evidence of his own experience

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Bulb

Electrical brain stimulation can instantly improve self-control

Jeremy Dean
Psy Blog
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© Krischan Schallenberger

Self-control can be boosted using tiny electrical pulses from electrodes, a new study finds.

Neuroscientists have successfully used a new type of brain stimulation to act on a mental braking system located in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain above the eyes.

The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, gave participants a simple test of self-control (Wessel et al., 2013).

This involved them trying to stop themselves from routinely pressing a button when suddenly given an unexpected auditory command.

Participants had electrodes attached to their heads to deliver the electrical stimulation to the precise area of their brain which has an inhibitory effect on behaviour.

The electrical current passing through the brain was relatively small, and so imperceptible to participants.

The part of the brain targeted, in the prefrontal cortex, is a crucial component in the network that slows down and stops some behaviour.

Sometimes participants were given help to inhibit the button pressing behaviours by having the electrical current delivered.
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Info

Dwarf planet in asteroid belt caught spouting water vapour

Lisa Goodman
New Scientist
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 13:18 UTC
Dwarf Planet
© IMCCE-Observatoire de Paris/CNRS/Y.Gominet, B. Carry/CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 FRJust letting off some steam.
The dwarf planet Ceres has been caught spouting water vapour, perhaps from a layer of buried ice or even from slushy volcanoes.

"This is the first clear-cut detection of water in the asteroid belt," says Michael Küppers of the European Space Agency. It backs up indirect signs of water on other asteroids - good news for would-be space miners hoping to use that water as fuel.

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, the ring of space rocks between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is so massive that its own gravity makes it nearly round, like a planet, earning it the title of dwarf planet alongside Pluto and three other objects beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Astronomers used to believe that asteroids from the main belt were too close to the sun to stay wet, and only comets from the far fringes of the solar system were able to hold onto any water ice. But recently, asteroid-belt objects have been spotted with comet-like tails of dust streaming behind them, suggesting that they too have solid ice on their surfaces that is vaporising and releasing dust into space.
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Roses

Do plants feel Earth's magnetic field?

Larry O'Hanlon
Discovery News
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 05:00 UTC
Plants and Magnetic Field
© Henrik Sorensen/Getty Images
It's common knowledge that some animals can detect and use Earth's magnetic field, but now Italian researchers have identified a possible mechanism by which plants might react to it as well.

The researchers even ponder the possibility that surges of plant evolution in Earth's history -- especially the appearance and spread of flowering plants -- might match times when the Earth's flip-flopping magnetic poles were like that of today.

"Compared to studies in animals, very little is known about magneto-reception in plants, although early studies on plants were initiated more than 70 years ago," explains the University of Turin's Andrea Occhipinti and colleagues in a paper in the January issue of the journal Trends in Plant Science.

There have been studies that suggest that plants do, indeed, respond to both strong and weak magnetic fields, but the experiments have been hard to duplicate, leaving a lot of questions still unanswered, the researchers wrote.

In birds the trick to detecting magnetic fields is the existence of a blue-light receptor protein, called a cryptochrome, in the birds' eyes. Cryptochromes are thought to be activated by light, and then they become sensitive to a magnetic field.

Oddly enough, the same protein has been found in plants, where, theoretically, they might also enable plants to react to magnetic fields. The big question, of course, is what use would a plant have for this extra ability? After all, plants don't migrate.
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Cassiopaea

Bright supernova in M82

Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Martino Nicolini
Remanzacco Observatory
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 11:35 UTC
Following the posting on the Central Bureau's Transient Object Confirmation Page about a possible Supernova in M82 (TOCP Designation: PSN J09554214+6940260) we performed some follow-up of this object through a 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer from MPC Code H06 (iTelescope, New Mexico).

On our images taken on January 22.3, 2014 we can confirm the presence of an optical counterpart with unfiltered CCD magnitude 11.3 and R-filtered magnitude 11.0 at coordinates:

R.A. = 09 55 42.17, Decl.= +69 40 25.9

(equinox 2000.0; UCAC-3 catalogue reference stars).

Our confirmation image (click on it for a bigger version):

Supernova
© Remanzacco Observatory
An animation showing a comparison between our confirmation image of supernova in M82 and archive image by 2-meter telescope FTN - LCOGT (dated back to 2013-11-22).
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