http://www.sott.net Signs of the Times, featuring news and commentary on world events. Never wavering in our unending search for the light of truth in a pathocracy driven world! en-us Original content Copyright 2009 by Signs of the Times. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:41:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net http://www.sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196354-Babies-are-found-to-cry-in-their-mother-tongue They may not be old enough to talk, but babies less than a week old know how to cry in their native language. Researchers have known that infants have the ability to mimic speech starting around 12 weeks of age. Babies also show a preference for spoken language that mirrors the rhythm, melody and intensity patterns of their mother tongue. But when they're too young to control their vocal cords or the muscles that shape the mouth to make specific sounds, how can babies demonstrate that they're tuned in to the chatter around them? Through their cries, suggests a team of European scientists. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196354-Babies-are-found-to-cry-in-their-mother-tongue Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:37:37 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196347-Unusual-meteorite-found-by-time-lapse-camera-observatory An unusual meteorite with an interesting orbit has been tracked to the ground using a photographic observatory that records time-lapse images of fireballs traveling across the sky. The network of cameras is in the Nullabor Desert in Western Australia. It allows scientists to track a fireball path, formed by a meteorite as it travels through Earth's atmosphere, and then work out where the meteorite comes to rest. The fireball camera network project was set up by Dr Phil Bland from Imperial College London and scientific associate of the Natural History Museum, along with colleagues from Ondrejov Observatory in the Czech Republic, and the Western Australia Museum, in 2006. This is the first meteorite recovered using the network. The cameras recorded the fireball that ultimately produced the meteorite in 2007, and the fragments that fell to Earth were named Bunburra Rockhole after a local landscape feature near to where they landed. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196347-Unusual-meteorite-found-by-time-lapse-camera-observatory Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:35:46 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196344-Was-life-founded-on-cyanide-from-space-crashes- Life may have been built on a foundation of cyanide formed in the fiery wakes of asteroids plunging through Earth's atmosphere, high-speed impact experiments suggest. Earth was probably not born with much in the way of organic material - the complex molecules containing carbon that life requires. It formed too close to the sun for such compounds to condense from the swirling primordial disc of gas and dust. One possibility is that organic matter formed on Earth after the planet coalesced, for example in chemical reactions induced by lightning arcing through the atmosphere, as experiments by Stanley Miller at the University of Chicago in the 1950s suggested. But the chemical reactions in this process could happen only in an early atmosphere full of methane and hydrogen, and later studies of the ancient geological record have suggested that was unlikely. Others have suggested the building blocks came from comets and asteroids that struck Earth, because these objects are known to contain high concentrations of organic material. But the tremendous heat of impact would have burned up much of that material, converting it into simpler molecules like carbon dioxide. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196344-Was-life-founded-on-cyanide-from-space-crashes- Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:51:09 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196341-Mass-extinction-blamed-on-fiery-fountains-of-coal Fossil fuels have a new crime to live down. A frenzy of hydrocarbon burning at the end of the Permian period may have led to the most devastating mass extinction Earth has ever seen, as explosive encounters between magma and coal released more carbon dioxide in the course of a few years than in all of human history. Around 250 million years ago, the so-called "Great Dying" saw 70 per cent of species wiped out on land and 95 per cent in the oceans. A clue to what may have triggered this disaster lies in solidified magma from this time, which is widespread in an area of Siberia where coal is also abundant. One suggestion is that the heat of the magma could have baked many billions of tonnes of CO2 out of the coal over a geologically brief period of a few thousand years (New Scientist, 8 December 2007, p 42). The ensuing climate change and ocean acidification would account for the extinctions. Now Norman Sleep and Darcy Ogden, both of Stanford University in California, think the trigger for the Great Dying may have been even swifter and more terrifying. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196341-Mass-extinction-blamed-on-fiery-fountains-of-coal Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:06:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196331-Carbon-Atmosphere-Discovered-On-Neutron-Star Evidence for a thin veil of carbon has been found on the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, resolves a ten-year mystery surrounding this object. "The compact star at the center of this famous supernova remnant has been an enigma since its discovery," said Wynn Ho of the University of Southampton and lead author of a paper that appears in the November 5 issue of Nature. "Now we finally understand that it can be produced by a hot neutron star with a carbon atmosphere." By analyzing Chandra's X-ray spectrum -- akin to a fingerprint of energy -- and applying it to theoretical models, Ho and his colleague Craig Heinke, from the University of Alberta, determined that the neutron star in Cassiopeia A, or Cas A for short, has an ultra-thin coating of carbon. This is the first time the composition of an atmosphere of an isolated neutron star has been confirmed. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196331-Carbon-Atmosphere-Discovered-On-Neutron-Star Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:08:46 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196325-Nanoparticles-could-damage-DNA-at-a-distance-study-suggests Nanoparticles of metal can damage the DNA inside cells even if there is no direct contact between them, scientists have found. The discovery provides an insight into how the particles might exert their influence inside the body and points to possible new ways to deliver medical treatments. The preliminary work also raises questions about the safety of nanoparticles - which are a thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair and used in everything from sunscreens to electronics - though the researchers point out that the doses they used in their study were higher than anything a person might come into contact with. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196325-Nanoparticles-could-damage-DNA-at-a-distance-study-suggests Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:30:19 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196316-Invisibility-Uncloaked In race to make things disappear, scientists gain ground on science fiction Ulf Leonhardt is riding high these days, with a new award from the Royal Society of Great Britain to further develop his ideas on how to make things in plain sight disappear. Born in East Germany and now occupying the theoretical physics chair at Scotland's University of St. Andrews, Leonhardt is among the leaders of the worldwide race to realize an old dream of science fiction: cloaking devices. They would steer light or other electromagnetic waves around them like water around a stone in a smooth stream, leaving nary a ripple of difference in the flow. Such things, letting light swish past like a boxer ducking every punch, would be invisible. "Cloaking device" is a common term in technical literature. It also deliberately evokes myth and popular fiction. Allusions include the Romulan technology that first amazed TV viewers of the old Star Trek in the episode "Balance of Terror," when hostile Bird of Prey fighting vessels just disappeared, poof. One finds cloaking in J.K. Rowling's novels about the young wizard Harry Potter with his invisibility cape. Farther back, H.G. Wells' novel The Invisible Man (and the movie of the same name, along with its sequel The Invisible Woman) toyed with much the same idea. J.R.R. Tolkien assigned similar power to The One Ring in his tales of hobbits. Inspiration for the ring apparently came from way back - the magical ring that the shepherd Gyges recovered from an earthquake-spawned chasm in Plato's The Republic. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196316-Invisibility-Uncloaked Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:27:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196308-Signature-of-Antimatter-Detected-in-Lightning Fermi telescope finds evidence that positrons, not just electrons, are in storms on Earth. Designed to scan the heavens thousands to billions of light-years beyond the solar system, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has now recorded some more down-to-Earth signals. During its first 14 months of operation, the flying observatory has detected 17 gamma-ray flashes associated with terrestrial lightning storms. The flashes occurred just before, during and immediately after lightning strikes, as tracked by the World Wide Lightning Location Network. During two recent lightning storms, Fermi recorded gamma-ray emissions of a particular energy that could only have been produced by the decay of energetic positrons, the antimatter equivalent of electrons. The observations are the first of their kind for lightning storms. Michael Briggs of the University of Alabama in Huntsville announced the puzzling findings November 5 at the 2009 Fermi Symposium. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196308-Signature-of-Antimatter-Detected-in-Lightning Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:16:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196255-New-Type-of-Supernova-Explosion-Reported-Predicted-by-Theoretical-Physicists A new class of supernova was discovered by scientists at Berkeley and may be the first example of a new type of exploding star. A team of astrophysicists at UC Santa Barbara had predicted this kind of explosion in their theoretical work. Lars Bildsten, professor at UCSB's Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP), and colleagues, predicted a new type of supernova in distant galaxies that would be fainter than most and would rise and fall in brightness in only a few weeks. The discovery, led by UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Dovi Poznanski, who is also with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is reported in the Nov. 5 Express edition of Science Magazine. Bildsten first heard from Poznanski last August when he was organizing the conference "Stellar Death and Supernovae." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196255-New-Type-of-Supernova-Explosion-Reported-Predicted-by-Theoretical-Physicists Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:46:09 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196253-This-Day-in-History-1605-King-James-Learns-of-Gunpowder-Plot Early in the morning, King James I of England learns that a plot to explode the Parliament building has been foiled, hours before he was scheduled to sit with the rest of the British government in a general parliamentary session. At about midnight on the night of November 4-5, Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, found Guy Fawkes lurking in a cellar under the Parliament building and ordered the premises searched. Some 20 barrels of gunpowder were found, and Fawkes was taken into custody. During a torture session on the rack, Fawkes revealed that he was a participant in an English Catholic conspiracy to annihilate England's Protestant government and replace it with Catholic leadership. What became known as the Gunpowder Plot was organized by Robert Catesby, an English Catholic whose father had been persecuted by Queen Elizabeth I for refusing to conform to the Church of England. Guy Fawkes had converted to Catholicism, and his religious zeal led him to fight in the Spanish army in the Netherlands. Catesby and the handful of other plotters rented a cellar that extended under Parliament, and Fawkes planted the gunpowder there, hiding the barrels under coal and wood. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196253-This-Day-in-History-1605-King-James-Learns-of-Gunpowder-Plot Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:40:02 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196251-Oldest-American-Artefact-Unearthed Oregon caves yield evidence of continent's first inhabitants. Archaeologists claim to have found the oldest known artefact in the Americas, a scraper-like tool in an Oregon cave that dates back 14,230 years. The tool shows that people were living in North America well before the widespread Clovis culture of 12,900 to 12,400 years ago, says archaeologist Dennis Jenkins of the University of Oregon in Eugene. Studies of sediment and radiocarbon dating showed the bone's age. Jenkins presented the finding late last month in a lecture at the University of Oregon. His team found the tool in a rock shelter overlooking a lake in south-central Oregon, one of a series of caves near the town of Paisley. Kevin Smith, the team member who uncovered the artefact, remembers the discovery. "We had bumped into a lot of extinct horse, bison and camel bone - then I heard and felt the familiar ring and feel when trowel hits bone," says Smith, now a master's student at California State University, Los Angeles. "I switched to a brush. Soon this huge bone emerged, then I saw the serrated edge. I stepped back and said: 'Hey everybody - we got something here.'" http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196251-Oldest-American-Artefact-Unearthed Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:29:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196228-Neural-Stem-Cells-in-Mice-Affected-by-Gene-Associated-with-Longevity A gene associated with longevity in roundworms and humans has been shown to affect the function of stem cells that generate new neurons in the adult brain, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The study in mice suggests that the gene may play an important role in maintaining cognitive function during aging. "It's intriguing to think that genes that regulate life span in invertebrates may have evolved to control stem cell pools in mammals," said Anne Brunet, PhD, assistant professor of genetics. She is the senior author of the research, which will be published Nov. 6 in Cell Stem Cell. Unlike your skin or your intestine, your adult brain doesn't make a lot of new cells. But those it does are critical to learning, memory and spatial awareness. To meet these demands, your brain maintains two small caches of neural stem cells, which can both self-renew and give rise to neurons and other cells known as oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. Properly balancing these functions allows you to generate new nerve cells as needed while also maintaining a robust neural stem cell pool. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196228-Neural-Stem-Cells-in-Mice-Affected-by-Gene-Associated-with-Longevity Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:05:20 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196209-Dark-matter-wrecking-ball-may-have-hit-Milky-Way Darth Vader's Death Star? Ming the Merciless and his war rockets? The awesome power of Chuck Norris? Piffle, suggests one astrophysicist, at least when it comes to explaining what force could have permanently bent a ring in our Milky Way Galaxy within the last 60 million years. The real explanation may be the power of an invisible wrecking ball made of dark matter - a cloud of the enigmatic physics particles born in the fiery aftermath of the Big Bang and weighing as much as 10 million suns. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196209-Dark-matter-wrecking-ball-may-have-hit-Milky-Way Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:23:46 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196199-In-the-Mediterranean-Killer-Tsunamis-From-an-Ancient-Eruption The massive eruption of the Thera volcano in the Aegean Sea more than 3,000 years ago produced killer waves that raced across hundreds of miles of the Eastern Mediterranean to inundate the area that is now Israel and probably other coastal sites, a team of scientists has found. The team, writing in the October issue of Geology, said the new evidence suggested that giant tsunamis from the catastrophic eruption hit "coastal sites across the Eastern Mediterranean littoral." Tsunamis are giant waves that can crash into shore, rearrange the seabed, inundate vast areas of land and carry terrestrial material out to sea. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196199-In-the-Mediterranean-Killer-Tsunamis-From-an-Ancient-Eruption Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:56:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196197-Archaeologists-uncover-prehistoric-landscape-beneath-Oxford The work was carried out over the summer in preparation for Oxford University's proposed Radcliffe Observatory Quarter - plans for which were revealed earlier this month. In addition to these findings, the work has also uncovered evidence of a 6th century Saxon settlement, including a sunken featured craft hut known as a Grübenhauser and a pit containing unfired clay loom weights. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196197-Archaeologists-uncover-prehistoric-landscape-beneath-Oxford Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:49:01 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196193-Elevator-to-Space-They-re-Really-Trying Rocketing into space? Some think an elevator might be the way to go. That's the future goal of this week's $2 million Space Elevator Games in the Mojave Desert. In a major test of the concept, robotic machines powered by laser beams will try to climb a cable suspended from a helicopter hovering more than a half-mile (one kilometer) high. Three teams have qualified to participate in the event on the dry lakebed near NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards. Attempts were expected from early Wednesday through Thursday. Funded by a space agency program to explore bold technology, the contest is a step toward bringing the idea of a space elevator out of the realm of science fiction and into reality. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196193-Elevator-to-Space-They-re-Really-Trying Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:22:47 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196175-Supernova-mystery-solved- Sooty neutron star could lie at the heart of Cassiopeia A. Two astrophysicists believe that they have dispelled the mystery surrounding an object at the centre of a distant supernova remnant. Around 330 years ago, a massive star in the constellation Cassiopeia exploded. The supernova may have been recorded by John Flamsteed, the English Astronomer Royal, who, at the time, observed a 'star' in the constellation that doesn't correspond to any known on today's charts. The remains of the supernova, known as Cassiopeia A, have been something of a mystery to astronomers. Supernovae usually leave behind an extremely dense object such as a black hole or neutron star. But for decades no such object was seen at the centre of Cassiopeia A. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196175-Supernova-mystery-solved- Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:49:50 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196167-Murderer-with-aggression-genes-gets-sentence-cut A judge's decision to reduce a killer's sentence because he has genetic mutations linked to violence raises a thorny question - can your genes ever absolve you of responsibility for a particular act? In 2007, Abdelmalek Bayout admitted to stabbing and killing a man and received a sentence of 9 years and 2 months. Last week, Nature reported that Pier Valerio Reinotti, an appeal court judge in Trieste, Italy, cut Bayout's sentence by a year after finding out he has gene variants linked to aggression. Leaving aside the question of whether this link is well enough understood to justify Reinotti's decision, should genes ever be considered a legitimate defence? http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196167-Murderer-with-aggression-genes-gets-sentence-cut Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:50:11 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196147-Ancient-Human-Metropolis-Found-in-Africa Read the original article on ViewZone They have always been there. People noticed them before. But no one could remember who made them -- or why? Until just recently, no one even knew how many there were. Now they are everywhere -- thousands -- no, hundreds of thousands of them! And the story they tell is the most important story of humanity. But it's one we might not be prepared to hear. Something amazing has been discovered in an area of South Africa, about 150 miles inland, west of the port of Maputo. It is the remains of a huge metropolis that measures, in conservative estimates, about 1500 square miles. It's part of an even larger community that is about 10,000 square miles and appears to have been constructed -- are you ready -- from 160,000 to 200,000 BCE! http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196147-Ancient-Human-Metropolis-Found-in-Africa Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:06:10 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196141-Ancient-DNA-Reveals-Lack-of-Continuity-between-Neolithic-Hunter-Gatherers-and-Contemporary-Scandinavians The driving force behind the transition from a foraging to a farming lifestyle in prehistoric Europe (Neolithization) has been debated for more than a century. Of particular interest is whether population replacement or cultural exchange was responsible. Scandinavia holds a unique place in this debate, for it maintained one of the last major hunter-gatherer complexes in Neolithic Europe, the Pitted Ware culture. Intriguingly, these late hunter-gatherers existed in parallel to early farmers for more than a millennium before they vanished some 4,000 years ago. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196141-Ancient-DNA-Reveals-Lack-of-Continuity-between-Neolithic-Hunter-Gatherers-and-Contemporary-Scandinavians Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:25:27 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196139-Hidden-Territory-On-Mercury-Revealed The MESSENGER spacecraft's third flyby of the planet Mercury has given scientists, for the first time, an almost complete view of the planet's surface and revealed some dramatic changes in Mercury's comet-like tail. "The new images remind us that Mercury continues to hold surprises," says Sean Solomon, principal investigator for the mission and director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The probe flew by Mercury on Sept. 29th, executing a critical gravity assist maneuver designed to help MESSENGER enter Mercury-orbit in 2011. Despite shutting down temporarily because of a power system switchover during a solar eclipse, the spacecraft's cameras and instruments revealed 6 percent of the planet's surface never before seen at close range. The bright region in the upper-right corner of the image surrounds a suspected explosive volcanic vent. The 290-km-diameter double-ring basin near the bottom of the image has a smooth interior that may be the result of effusive volcanism. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196139-Hidden-Territory-On-Mercury-Revealed Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:42:10 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196127-Decrease-In-Physical-Activity-May-Not-Be-A-Factor-In-Increased-Obesity-Rates-Among-Adolescents Decreased physical activity may have little to do with the recent spike in obesity rates among U.S. adolescents, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prompted by growing concern that the increase was due to decreased physical activity associated with increased TV viewing time and other sedentary behaviors, researchers examined the patterns and time trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviors among U.S. adolescents based on nationally representative data collected since 1991. The review found signs indicating that the physical activity among adolescents increased while TV viewing decreased in recent years. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196127-Decrease-In-Physical-Activity-May-Not-Be-A-Factor-In-Increased-Obesity-Rates-Among-Adolescents Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:13:48 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196126-Increasing-Number-Of-Injuries-From-Hot-Tubs-New-National-Study-Finds Though hot tubs, whirlpools and spas are widely used for relaxation and fun, they can pose serious risk for injury. Over the past two decades, as recreational use of hot tubs has increased, so has the number of injuries. A recent study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that from 1990-2007, the number of unintentional hot tub-related injuries increased by 160 percent, from approximately 2,500 to more than 6,600 injuries per year. According to the study, published in the online issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 73 percent of the patients with hot tub-related injuries were older than 16 and approximately one half of all injuries resulted from slips and falls. Lacerations were the most commonly reported injuries (28 percent) and the lower extremities (27 percent) and the head (26 percent) were the most frequently injured body parts. "While the majority of injuries occurred among patients older than 16, children are still at high risk for hot tub-related injuries," said study author Lara McKenzie, PhD, principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital. "Due to the differing mechanisms of injury and the potential severity of these injuries, the pediatric population deserves special attention." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196126-Increasing-Number-Of-Injuries-From-Hot-Tubs-New-National-Study-Finds Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:01:07 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196124-Bulgarian-Archaeologists-Find-Silver-Treasure-in-Thracian-Tomb A team of Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered a new tomb of an aristocrat from Ancient Thrace near the southern town of Nova Zagora. The team led by archaeologist Veselin Ignatov found a burial tomb of 12 square meters date back to the end of 1st century and beginning of 2nd century AD. It is located outside of the village of Karanovo. The burial site of the Thracian aristocrat contains a number of interesting items including a silver treasure of vessels and artifacts that were place there to be used by the aristocrat in his afterlife. Those include two silver cups with images of love god Eros, and a number of other ornate silver and bronze vessels. The archaeologists have also found a chariot and fragments of a shield. The expedition called Karanovo 2009-2010 has just started to uncover their new find, and Ignatov expects a lot more valuable items to be discovered. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196124-Bulgarian-Archaeologists-Find-Silver-Treasure-in-Thracian-Tomb Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:10:17 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196123-UK-Iron-Age-Treasure-Found-in-Field A metal-detecting enthusiast has unearthed a 2,000-year-old treasure hoard worth an estimated £1 million in a field near Stirling. The amateur hunter, who has not been identified, found four gold neckbands dating to the Iron Age. He informed Scotland's Treasure Trove Unit which sent a team to excavate the site, the Daily Record newspaper reported. The bands, or "torcs", made from twisted gold, are thought to date from the 1st and 3rd century BC. A similar one found in Newark, Nottinghamshire, in 2005 sold for £350,000. The Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel will now value the latest discovery. A spokesman for the National Museums of Scotland said: "There has been a significant find." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196123-UK-Iron-Age-Treasure-Found-in-Field Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:07:05 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196116-Shedding-Light-on-the-Cosmic-Skeleton Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us. The discovery, made possible by combining two of the most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world, is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant Universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed. "Matter is not distributed uniformly in the Universe," says Masayuki Tanaka from ESO, who led the new study. "In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies. The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called 'cosmic web', in which galaxies, embedded in filaments stretching between voids, create a gigantic wispy structure." These filaments are millions of light years long and constitute the skeleton of the Universe: galaxies gather around them, and immense galaxy clusters form at their intersections, lurking like giant spiders waiting for more matter to digest. Scientists are struggling to determine how they swirl into existence. Although massive filamentary structures have been often observed at relatively small distances from us, solid proof of their existence in the more distant Universe has been lacking until now. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196116-Shedding-Light-on-the-Cosmic-Skeleton Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:42:15 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196112-Terrible-Teens-of-T-Rex-Young-Tyrannosaurs-did-Serious-Battle-Against-Each-Other We all know adolescents get testy from time to time. Thank goodness we don't have young tyrannosaurs running around the neighborhood. In a new scientific paper, researchers from Northern Illinois University and the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford report that adolescent tyrannosaurs got into some serious scraps with their peers. The evidence can be found on Jane, the museum's prized juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, discovered in 2001 in Montana. Jane's fossils show that she sustained a serious bite that punctured through the bone of the dinosaur's left upper jaw and snout in four places, the researchers report. The injury wasn't life threatening and eventually healed over, according to the scientists. The bite did leave scars, however. "Jane has what we call a boxer's nose," says Joe Peterson, an NIU Ph.D. candidate in geology and lead author of the study published in the November issue of the journal Palaios. "Her snout bends slightly to the left. It was probably broken and healed back crooked." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196112-Terrible-Teens-of-T-Rex-Young-Tyrannosaurs-did-Serious-Battle-Against-Each-Other Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:33:01 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196092-Space-hotel-on-schedule-to-open-in-2012- A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project. The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost 3 million euro (£2.6 million) for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island. During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. They would wear velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman. Galactic Suite Ltd's CEO Xavier Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, said the project will put his company (www.galacticsuite.com) at the forefront of an infant industry with a huge future ahead of it, and forecast space travel will become common in the future. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196092-Space-hotel-on-schedule-to-open-in-2012- Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:04:31 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196072-Fermi-Detects-Gamma-Ray-From-Star-Factories-In-Other-Galaxies Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Two so-called "starburst" galaxies, plus a satellite of our own Milky Way galaxy, represent a new category of gamma-ray-emitting objects detected both by Fermi and ground-based observatories. "Starburst galaxies have not been accessible in gamma rays before," said Fermi team member Seth Digel, a physicist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif. "Most of the galaxies Fermi sees are exotic and distant blazars, which produce jets powered by matter falling into enormous black holes. But these new galaxies are much closer to us and much more like our own." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196072-Fermi-Detects-Gamma-Ray-From-Star-Factories-In-Other-Galaxies Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:02:24 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196066-Researchers-unlock-the-sound-of-learning-by-linking-sensory-and-motor-systems Learning to talk also changes the way speech sounds are heard, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at Haskins Laboratories, a Yale-affiliated research laboratory. The findings could have a major impact on improving speech disorders. "We've found that learning is a two-way street; motor function affects sensory processing and vice-versa," said David J. Ostry, a senior scientist at Haskins Laboratories and professor of psychology at McGill University. "Our results suggest that learning to talk makes it easier to understand the speech of others." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196066-Researchers-unlock-the-sound-of-learning-by-linking-sensory-and-motor-systems Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:25:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196044-The-Science-of-Magic-Not-Just-Hocus-Pocus Neuroscientists and Magicians Are Studying How Sleight of Hand Affects the Brain, and Its Potential to Diagnose Autism Las Vegas can be a magical place. It certainly is for Penn and Teller, who have been performing magic in their own Las Vegas theatre for almost eight years. The house is packed every night - a testament to both Penn and Teller's draw . . . and to the universal appeal of magic itself. "What makes for a successful trick?" Blackstone asked Teller, who never says a word on stage. He broke his silence for our interview (but insisted that we not show his moving lips). http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196044-The-Science-of-Magic-Not-Just-Hocus-Pocus Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:58:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196026-Forest-Clearances-Sealed-Ancient-Civilisation-s-Downfall An ancient South American civilization which disappeared around 1,500 years ago helped to cause its own demise by damaging the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, a study has found. Archaeologists examining the remains of the Nasca, who once flourished in the valleys of south coastal Peru, have uncovered a sequence of human-induced events which led to their "catastrophic" collapse around 500 AD. The Nasca are probably best known for the famous "Nazca Lines", giant geoglyphs which they left etched into the surface of the vast, empty desert plain that lies between the Peruvian towns of Nazca and Palpa. The depictions have spawned various wild theories, including that they were created by aliens. Most scholars now believe that they were sacred pathways which Nasca people followed during the course of their ancient rituals. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196026-Forest-Clearances-Sealed-Ancient-Civilisation-s-Downfall Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:19:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196013-Russia-Hopes-Nuclear-Ship-Will-Fly-Humans-to-Mars "Russia should build a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets," the nation's space chief said Thursday. Anatoly Perminov first proposed building the ship at a government meeting Wednesday but didn't explain its purpose. President Dmitry Medvedev backed the project and urged the government to find the money. In remarks posted Thursday on his agency's Web site, Perminov said the nuclear spaceship should be used for human flights to Mars and other planets. He said the project is challenging technologically, but could capitalize on the Soviet and Russian experience in the field. Perminov said the preliminary design could be ready by 2012, and then it would take nine more years and cost 17 billion rubles (about $600 million, or euro400 million) to build the ship. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196013-Russia-Hopes-Nuclear-Ship-Will-Fly-Humans-to-Mars Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:06:09 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196010-British-Holidaymaker-Discovers-Lost-Underwater-City- A British holidaymaker has uncovered what is believed to be a lost, ancient temple while snorkelling in the Mediterranean. Michael Le Quesne, 16, was swimming off a popular beach in Montenegro with his parents and his ten-year-old sister Teodora when he spotted an odd looking 'stone' at a depth of around two metres. It turned out to be a large, submerged building which may have been the centrepiece of an important Greek or Roman trading post, swallowed up by the sea during a massive earthquake. A British team of experts led by Dr Lucy Blue, presenter of BBC Two show Oceans, is to investigate the significant find in this largely unexplored corner of south east Europe. Dr Blue said that if the discovery is confirmed to be an underwater temple it would "put Montenegro on the map". http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196010-British-Holidaymaker-Discovers-Lost-Underwater-City- Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:53:27 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196005-Solar-Winds-Triggered-by-Magnetic-Fields Solar wind generated by the sun is probably driven by a process involving powerful magnetic fields, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers based on the latest observations from the Hinode satellite. Scientists have long speculated on the source of solar winds. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS), on board the Japanese-UK-US Hinode satellite, is now generating unprecedented observations enabling scientists to provide a new perspective on the 50-year old question of how solar wind is driven. The collaborative study, published in this month's issue of Astrophysical Journal, suggests that a process called slipping reconnection may drive these winds. Deb Baker, lead author from UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, says: "Solar wind is an outflow of million-degree gas and magnetic field that engulfs the Earth and other planets. It fills the entire solar system and links with the magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets. Changes in the Sun's million-mile-per-hour wind can induce disturbances within near-Earth space and our upper atmosphere and yet we still don't know what drives these outflows." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196005-Solar-Winds-Triggered-by-Magnetic-Fields Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:36:09 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196002-Snail-Fossils-Suggest-Semiarid-Eastern-Canary-Islands-Were-Wetter-50-000-Years-Ago Fossil land snail shells found in ancient soils on the subtropical eastern Canary Islands show that the Spanish archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa has become progressively drier over the past 50,000 years. Isotopic measurements performed on fossil land snail shells resulted in oxygen isotope ratios that suggest the relative humidity on the islands was higher 50,000 years ago, then experienced a long-term decrease to the time of maximum global cooling and glaciation about 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, according to new research by Yurena Yanes, a post-doctoral researcher, and Crayton J. Yapp, a geochemistry professor, both in the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. With subsequent post-glacial climatic fluctuations, relative humidity seems to have oscillated somewhat, but finally decreased even further to modern values. Consequently the eastern Canary Islands experienced an overall increase in dryness during the last 50,000 years, eventually yielding the current semiarid conditions. Today the low-altitude eastern islands are characterized by low annual rainfall and a landscape of short grasses and shrubs, Yanes says. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196002-Snail-Fossils-Suggest-Semiarid-Eastern-Canary-Islands-Were-Wetter-50-000-Years-Ago Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:21:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195956-Beijing-Gets-First-Snow-After-Meteorologists-Seed-Clouds Beijingers woke up Sunday morning to a city turned white with snow that came far ahead of the winter. It was only in the later part of the day that one learnt that 186 doses of silver iodide went into persuading the clouds to release snow flakes. The metrological department said it had started seeding the clouds from 8pm in Saturday to beat down lingering drought in and around Beijing. The department claimed success in producing 16 million tones of snow for the city. "We wont miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought," said Zhang Qiang, who is in charge of the Beijing metrological office, said in a statement. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195956-Beijing-Gets-First-Snow-After-Meteorologists-Seed-Clouds Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:02:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195911-Timeline-The-secret-history-of-swine-flu Six months ago, swine flu emerged as a massive threat to global health. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but our timeline explains how the origins of the H1N1 pandemic go back more than a century 1889 Prior to 1889, the main flu virus circulating in humans has been from the H1 family. But this year, a new strain of H2 flu emerges in Russia and spreads around the world, killing about 1 million people. Afterwards, H2 replaces H1 in humans. Such replacements seem to be a regular feature of flu pandemics. People born before 1889, who have been exposed to H1 flu, have some immunity to it. This affords them some protection in the deadly H1N1 epidemic of 1918. Those born after 1889 do not have any immunity to H1. 1918 The "Spanish flu" epidemic of 1918 kills at least 50 million people worldwide. It is caused by an H1N1 virus which evolves directly from a bird flu into a human flu. After a mild wave of infections in the summer, the epidemic goes global: one-third of the population eventually get sick. Although most cases are mild, many sufferers develop a rapidly fatal infection deep in their lungs. People born before 1889 are less susceptible, thanks to their previous exposure to H1N1. Most deaths are caused by bacterial lung infections that move in after the virus. Modern antibiotics might mean that a re-run of the 1918 pandemic would be less dangerous. After 1919, the descendants of the H1N1 virus continue to circulate and cause seasonal flu outbreaks in humans - and pigs. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195911-Timeline-The-secret-history-of-swine-flu Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:25:43 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195900-Voices-of-long-dead-stars-haunt-the-galaxy Mysterious radio blips that come from apparently empty regions of space may be the voices of long-dead stars. Thirteen unexplained radio blips have turned up in radio telescope observations since the 1980s. They emerged in spots where there are no stars or galaxies to be seen, last anywhere from hours to days, and do not seem to repeat. The blips could be traces of a vast population of stellar corpses - neutron stars that roam the universe largely unseen, suggests a team led by Eran Ofek of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Most of the galaxy's estimated billion neutron stars are invisible. Some of the newly formed ones have been detected because their rapid rotation sends radio pulses our way multiple times per second. These are thought to fade with age. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195900-Voices-of-long-dead-stars-haunt-the-galaxy Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:22:20 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195891-Archeologists-Discover-Ancient-Fortress-near-Moscow Archeologists have found defensive installations of an Old Russian fortress that stood at the confluence of Dubna River and Volga more than 800 years back. In the course of archeological excavations they cleared a plot of a defensive moat, which had been constructed in the early 12th century and soon destroyed by a massive fire. Experts assume that the initial version of the fortress on the border with Novgorod land was erected by Yuri Dolgoruki - the Prince of Rostov and Suzdal - around 1134. Cultural strata of the ancient town are up to two and a half meters thick. During archeological diggings of 2009 over a thousand Old Russian artifacts have been procured. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195891-Archeologists-Discover-Ancient-Fortress-near-Moscow Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:52:12 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195866-Harvesting-energy-from-nature-s-motions By taking advantage of the vagaries of the natural world, Duke University engineers have developed a novel approach that they believe can more efficiently harvest electricity from the motions of everyday life. Energy harvesting is the process of converting one form of energy, such as motion, into another form of energy, in this case electricity. Strategies range from the development of massive wind farms to produce large amounts of electricity to using the vibrations of walking to power small electronic devices. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195866-Harvesting-energy-from-nature-s-motions Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:46:50 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195865-Technology-plays-large-role-in-wealth-inheritance A new study reveals the important role inherited wealth plays in sustaining economic inequality in small scale societies. A team of 26 anthropologists, statisticians, and economists based at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico amassed an unprecedented data set allowing 43 estimates of a family's wealth inheritance and found that financial inequality among populations largely depends on the "technologies" that produce a people's livelihood. According to the report, released in the October 30 edition of the journal Science, technologies differ across societies. Technologies are defined here to include everything one needs to make a living--from material things such as farms, herds and other real property, to knowledge, skills and other valuable resources. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195865-Technology-plays-large-role-in-wealth-inheritance Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:40:19 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195863-Superstitious-Beliefs-Cemented-Before-Birth The propensity to believe in paranormal phenomena and superstitions appears to arise in the womb, suggests new research. The findings, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, further indicate that a reduced ability for analytical thinking may correspond with increased intuitive thinking, which has been associated with a belief in extrasensory perception (ESP), ghosts, telepathy and other paranormal phenomena. Author Martin Voracek claims his new study's determinations "suggest (there are) biologically based, prenatally programmed influences on paranormal and superstitious beliefs." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195863-Superstitious-Beliefs-Cemented-Before-Birth Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:31:18 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195856-Teams-Observe-Cosmic-Explosion-from-Farthest-Point-in-the-Universe Two teams have observed a huge cosmic explosion that occurred 13 billion years ago in the farthest point of the universe ever detected, the journal Nature reports. The groups, a British team using telescopes in Hawaii, and an Italian team on the Canary Islands, both observed the burst of gamma rays. NASA says the burst came from a star that died when the universe was only 630 million years old, or less than 5% of its present age. The event, dubbed GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen, NASA says. Nature says the previous record sighting was an event from 825 million years after the Big Bang. The ground-based teams scrambled to observe the event 20 minutes after NASA's space-based Swift telescope spotted the burst in April and relayed the information to Earth. Nature says the work by the teams "shows that astronomers can effectively probe the early universe from the ground." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195856-Teams-Observe-Cosmic-Explosion-from-Farthest-Point-in-the-Universe Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:15:02 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195855-Inequality-Silver-Spoon-Effect-Found-in-Ancient-Societies The so-called "silver spoon" effect -- in which wealth is passed down from one generation to another -- is well established in some of the world's most ancient economies, according to an international study coordinated by a UC Davis anthropologist. The study, to be reported in the Oct. 30 issue of Science, expands economists' conventional focus on material riches, and looks at various kinds of wealth, such as hunting success, food sharing partners, and kinship networks. The team found that some kinds of wealth, like material possessions, are much more easily passed on than social networks or foraging abilities. Societies where material wealth is most valued are therefore the most unequal, said Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, the UC Davis anthropology professor who coordinated the study with economist Samuel Bowles of the Santa Fe Institute. The researchers also showed that levels of inequality are influenced both by the types of wealth important to a society and the governing rules and regulations. Hunter-gatherers rely on their wits, social connections and strength to make a living. In these economies, wealth inheritance is modest because wits and social connections can be transferred only to a certain degree. The level of economic inequality in hunter-gatherer societies is on a par with the most egalitarian modern democratic economies. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195855-Inequality-Silver-Spoon-Effect-Found-in-Ancient-Societies Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:10:38 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195844-Ireland-Remains-of-1-000-People-Recovered-at-Medieval-Site The ancient bones have produced evidence of several suspected murders and one case of leprosy - an extremely rare occurrence in medieval times. Osteoarchaeologist Carmelita Troy, of Headland Archaeology in Cork, said yesterday she has studied the ancient remains of nearly 1,300 individuals - adult males and females along with children - who were buried at the site at Ardreigh, Athy, in Co Kildare. It is one of the largest skeleton assemblages in the country. It is believed the site served as a huge regional cemetery for the south Kildare region from perhaps the 7th or 8th century, with classic Christian-style burials - bodies aligned west to east - taking place right up to the 1400s. "Through the evidence gathered from the results of these excavations, it was clear Ardreigh was a highly significant medieval site, and one that can be considered to be of regional - and probably national importance," a preliminary report on the site suggested. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195844-Ireland-Remains-of-1-000-People-Recovered-at-Medieval-Site Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:35:19 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195826-Shrimp-Eyes-May-Lead-to-Ultra-Quality-DVDs The amazing eyes of a giant shrimp living on Australia's Great Barrier Reef could hold the key to developing a new type of super high-quality DVD player, British scientists said on Sunday. Mantis shrimps, dubbed "thumb splitters" by divers because of their vicious claws, have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. They can see in 12 primary colors, four times as many as humans, and can also detect different kinds of light polarization - the direction of oscillation in light waves. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195826-Shrimp-Eyes-May-Lead-to-Ultra-Quality-DVDs Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:18:01 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195825-Extinct-bison-body-could-rewrite-Canadian-archaeological-record The carcass of an extinct steppe bison, discovered two years ago melting out of a cliff in a remote village in the Northwest Territories, is shedding new light on the Ice Age species - and could rewrite the history of human migration in Canada as glaciers began retreating in the region nearly 14,000 years ago. An analysis of the super-sized beast, larger than both the plains and wood bison which inhabited North America following the demise of its steppe-cousin, showed the specimen was one of the last of its kind in ancient Beringia - the ice-free, northwest corner of the continent that was once linked to eastern Siberia. But the rare find, documented by a team of Canadian, British and American scientists in the latest edition of the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, has wider implications for dating the retreat of the glaciers in northern Canada and the possible entry of human hunters from Asia - the ancestors of today's aboriginal Canadians - into the continental interior. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195825-Extinct-bison-body-could-rewrite-Canadian-archaeological-record Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:13:49 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195824-Multiplying-universes-How-many-is-the-multiverse- How many universes are there? Cosmologists Andrei Linde and Vitaly Vanchurin at Stanford University in California calculate that the number dwarfs the 10500 universes postulated in string theory, and raise the provocative notion that the answer may depend on the human brain. The idea that there is more than one universe, each with its own laws of physics, arises out of several different theories, including string theory and cosmic inflation. This concept of a "multiverse" could explain a puzzling mystery - why dark energy, the furtive force that is accelerating the expansion of space, appears improbably fine-tuned for life. With a large number of universes, there is bound to be one that has a dark energy value like ours. Calculating the probability of observing this value - and other features of the cosmos - depends on how many universes of various kinds populate the multiverse. String theory describes 10500 universes, but that just counts different vacuum states, which are like the blank canvases upon which universes are painted. The features of each canvas determine what the overall painting will look like - such as the laws of physics in that universe - but not the details. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195824-Multiplying-universes-How-many-is-the-multiverse- Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:42:05 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195816-The-Map-that-Changed-the-World Drawn half a millennium ago and then swiftly forgotten, one map made us see the world as we know it today... and helped name America. But, as Toby Lester has discovered, the most powerful nation on earth also owes its name to a pun. Almost exactly 500 years ago, in 1507, Martin Waldseemuller and Matthias Ringmann, two obscure Germanic scholars based in the mountains of eastern France, made one of the boldest leaps in the history of geographical thought - and indeed in the larger history of ideas. Near the end of an otherwise plodding treatise titled Introduction to Cosmography, they announced to their readers the astonishing news that the world did not just consist of Asia, Africa, and Europe, the three parts of the world known since antiquity. A previously unknown fourth part of the world had recently been discovered, they declared, by the Italian merchant Amerigo Vespucci, and in his honour they had decided to give it a name: America. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195816-The-Map-that-Changed-the-World Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:50:31 -0400