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Comet 2

New Comet: C/2014 A4 (SONEAR)

Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Martino Nicolini
Remanzacco Observatory
Thu, 16 Jan 2014 12:04 UTC
Cbet nr. 3783, issued on 2014, January 16, announces the discovery of an apparently asteroidal object (discovery magnitude ~18.1) by Cristovao Jacques, Eduardo Pimentel, and Joao Ribeiro de Barros on CCD images obtained on Jan. 12.0 UT with a 0.45-m f/2.9 reflector of the Southern Observatory for Near Earth Research (SONEAR) at Oliveira, Brazil. The object has been found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere and then also by Jacques et al. The new comet has been designated C/2014 A4 (SONEAR).

We performed follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp.
Stacking of 19 unfiltered exposures, 90-sec each, obtained remotely from MPC code Q62 (iTelescope, Siding Spring) on 2014, January 13.4 through a 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet: small coma nearly 5 arcsec in diameter with a hint of elongation toward North-East.

We observed the object again on January 14.5: stacking of 25 R-filtered exposures, 30-sec each, obtained remotely from MPC code E10 (Faulkes Telescope South) on 2014, January 14.5 through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD (operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network), shows that this object is a comet: diffuse coma nearly 8 arcsec in diameter slightly elongated toward North-East

Comet SONEAR
© Remanzacco Observatory
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Info

Life Hums: Proteins constantly vibrate in the body

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Thu, 16 Jan 2014 04:00 UTC
T-Cell
© NIAID/NIH
Healthy human T-cell.
The millions of proteins in humans and other living things vibrate in different patterns like the strings on a violin or the pipes of an organ, according to a new study in Nature Communications.

Scientists have long suspected that proteins vibrate in such a manner, but now they have the high tech means to prove that this really happens.

The research team, from the University at Buffalo and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, found that the vibrations persist in molecules like the "ringing of a bell," lead author and UB physics professor Andrea Markelz said in a press release.

We are not consciously aware of these non-stop vibrations. (Can you imagine what it would be like if we were?)

But it's fascinating to think that a veritable symphony of vibrations plays on in us and in other species.

The tiny motions enable proteins to change shape quickly so they can readily bind to other proteins, a process that is necessary for the body to perform critical biological functions like absorbing oxygen, repairing cells and replicating DNA, Markelz explained.

She added that the research opens the door to a whole new way of studying the basic cellular processes that enable life.

"People have been trying to measure these vibrations in proteins for many, many years, since the 1960s," Markelz said.
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Comet

Retarded science! A chance to get name on asteroid-bound probe that will end up orbiting the sun


The Province
Wed, 15 Jan 2014 09:34 UTC
Image
© THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-NASA/Goddard/Chris Meaney
This is an artist's concept of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft preparing to take a sample from the asteroid Bennu.NASA is inviting people around the world to submit their names to be etched on a microchip aboard the spacecraft, which will first travel to an asteroid in 2016.
Here's a chance to have your name on a spacecraft that will eventually spend its time orbiting the sun.

NASA is inviting people around the world to submit their names to be etched on a microchip aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which will first travel to an asteroid in 2016.

OSIRIS-REx will use a vision system provided by Canada.

The space probe will spend more than two years at the 500-metre-wide asteroid, named Bennu.

Its main mission is to collect at least 60 grams of material from Bennu's surface and return it to Earth in 2023 in a sample return capsule.

Anyone wishing to participate in "Messages to Bennu!" should submit their name online no later than Sept. 30 at: http://planetary.org/bennu

After a person submits their name, they will be able to download and print a certificate documenting their participation in the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Once the capsule with the sample deploys, the spacecraft will be placed into a long-term orbit around the sun, along with the microchip and every name on it.

NASA says the OSIRIS-REx science mission will help identify the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, as well as those suitable for asteroid exploration missions.

U.S. President Barack Obama has indicated that his goal is to send humans to an asteroid by 2025.

Source: The Canadian Press
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Magnify

Twin DNA test: Why identical criminals may no longer be safe

Alison Gee
BBC World Service
Wed, 15 Jan 2014 06:05 UTC
Image
© Thinkstock.
It's well known that identical twins are not totally identical - they can, usually, be told apart, after all. But up to now it has been almost impossible to distinguish their DNA. It's claimed that a new test can do it quickly and affordably, however - and this could help police solve a number of crimes.

At the end of 2012, six women were raped in Marseille, in the south of France. Evidence, including DNA, led police to not one, but two suspects - identical twins Elwin and Yohan. Their surname was not revealed. When asked to identify the attacker, victims recognised the twins but couldn't say which one had assaulted them.

Police are struggling to work out which one to prosecute. They have been holding the brothers in custody since February - each twin says he didn't carry out the attacks, but neither is blaming the other.

When the twins were arrested, media reports said tests to determine who to charge with the crimes would be prohibitively expensive, but that looks set to change. Scientists specialising in genomic research at the Eurofins laboratory in Ebersberg, Germany, say they can now help in cases like this.

The human genome consists of a three-billion-letter code," says Georg Gradl, their next-generation sequencing expert. "If the body is growing, or an embryo is developing, then all the three billion letters have to be copied.

"During this copying process in the body there are 'typos' happening," says Gradl, referring to slight mutations.

In standard DNA tests only a tiny fraction of the code is analysed - enough to differentiate between two average people, but not identical twins.
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Info

Oldest trees are growing faster, storing more carbon as they age


ScienceDaily
Wed, 15 Jan 2014 15:59 UTC
Old Trees
© Michele Hogan
Mature trees.
In a finding that overturns the conventional view that large old trees are unproductive, scientists have determined that for most species, the biggest trees increase their growth rates and sequester more carbon as they age.

In a letter published today in the journal Nature, an international research group reports that 97 percent of 403 tropical and temperate species grow more quickly the older they get. The study was led by Nate L. Stephenson of the U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center. Three Oregon State University researchers are co-authors: Mark Harmon and Rob Pabst of the College of Forestry and Duncan Thomas of the College of Agricultural Sciences.

The researchers reviewed records from studies on six continents. Their conclusions are based on repeated measurements of 673,046 individual trees, some going back more than 80 years.

This study would not have been possible, Harmon said, without long-term records of individual tree growth. "It was remarkable how we were able to examine this question on a global level, thanks to the sustained efforts of many programs and individuals."

Extraordinary growth of some species, such as Australian mountain ash -- also known as eucalyptus -- (Eucalyptus regnans), and the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is not limited to a few species, the researchers said. "Rather, rapid growth in giant trees is the global norm and can exceed 600 kg (1,300 pounds) per year in the largest individuals," they wrote.
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Info

Why birds fly in a V formation

Patricia Waldron
ScienceNow
Wed, 15 Jan 2014 12:45 UTC
V Formation
© Markus Unsöld (Waldrappteam)
Catching air. Northern bald ibises (Geronticus eremita) migrate in the perfect formation to take advantage of updrafts.
Anyone watching the autumn sky knows that migrating birds fly in a V formation, but scientists have long debated why. A new study of ibises finds that these big-winged birds carefully position their wingtips and sync their flapping, presumably to catch the preceding bird's updraft - and save energy during flight.

There are two reasons birds might fly in a V formation: It may make flight easier, or they're simply following the leader. Squadrons of planes can save fuel by flying in a V formation, and many scientists suspect that migrating birds do the same. Models that treated flapping birds like fixed-wing airplanes estimate that they save energy by drafting off each other, but currents created by airplanes are far more stable than the oscillating eddies coming off of a bird. "Air gets pretty darn wiggy behind a flapping wing," says James Usherwood, a locomotor biomechanist at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London in Hatfield, where the research took place.

The study, published online today in Nature, took advantage of an existing project to reintroduce endangered northern bald ibises (Geronticus eremita) to Europe. Scientists used a microlight plane to show hand-raised birds their ancestral migration route from Austria to Italy. A flock of 14 juveniles carried data loggers specially built by Usherwood and his lab. The device's GPS determined each bird's flight position to within 30 cm, and an accelerometer showed the timing of the wing flaps.
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Moon

The dark side of the moon is turquoise, say astronomers

Ian Sample
The Guardian
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:20 UTC
The Dark Side of the Moon
© Alamy
Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon album cover. The album was first released in 1973
Measurements from a telescope in Hawaii show blue light reflected from Earth turns turquoise when it bounces off moon

In a demonstration of the power of science to ruin a perfectly respectable work of art, researchers have discovered the colour of the dark side of the moon.

Measurements from a telescope in Hawaii mean that pedants may now argue that, technically speaking, if one wanted to be entirely accurate, the side of the moon referred to in Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon should really be described as "turquoise".
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Hearts

Social experience drives empathetic, pro-social behavior in rats


sciencedaily.com
Tue, 14 Jan 2014 12:59 UTC
Image
© University of Chicago
Albino rat interacting with trapped black/white rat.
Empathy-driven behavior has been observed in rats who will free trapped companions from restrainers. This behavior also extends toward strangers, but requires prior, positive social interactions with the type (strain) of the unfamiliar individual, report scientists from the University of Chicago in the open access journal eLife, on Jan. 14.

The findings suggest that social experiences, not genetics or kin selection, determine whether an individual will help strangers out of empathy. The importance of social experience extends even to rats of the same strain -- a rat fostered and raised with a strain different than itself will not help strangers of its own kind.

"Pro-social behavior appears to be determined only by social experience," said Inbal Bartal, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Chicago and lead author of the study "It takes diverse social interactions during development or adulthood to expand helping behavior to more groups of unfamiliar individuals. Even in humans, studies have shown that exposure to diverse environments reduces social bias and increases pro-social behavior."
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Attention

California's $25 billion plot to save its water supply

Lessley Anderson
The Verge
Wed, 15 Jan 2014 08:39 UTC
The state's key estuary is in serious jeopardy, but can a bold new plan solve the problem?

Bay Delta Conservation Plan
© Bay Delta Conservation Plan
A diagram of how the BDCP would transform California's water infrastructure. The proposed tunnels are shown in green
Behind many of the shiny fruits and vegetables in the produce aisle, there's a decidedly ominous backstory: California, supplier of much of our domestic produce, is just one earthquake away from drying up.

The problem is that most of the state's agricultural water, as well as drinking water for large parts of Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other major metropolitan areas, comes from a vast estuary northeast of the San Francisco Bay. It's an estuary that's about to collapse. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, or more simply, the Delta, relies on old levees that will crumble in an earthquake or buckle under pressure from rising sea levels, say experts, and in fact already do crumble on a regular basis. A large-scale collapse would put the state's water supplies in grave jeopardy, and in turn impact the entire country, which relies on California both economically and for a large amount of its food.

A controversial new plan, developed by California's Governor Jerry Brown in conjunction with various state agencies, offers a potential solution. Dubbed the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), it suggests boring two massive tunnels to subvert the levees entirely, while simultaneously attempting to help endangered species through large-scale habitat restoration. Critics of the plan say it throws small Delta family farms under the bus by cutting off their freshwater supply, and, in fact, further imperils the estuary's tottering ecosystem in order to satisfy the needs of big ag in the Central Valley. But supporters say it's the best solution to a problem that, if not addressed, could severely impact the state's $1.8 trillion-economy and leave up to 25 million people in the state without drinking water. What both sides agree on is that something must be done before it's too late.
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Galaxy

Behind the Headlines: The Electric Universe - An interview with Wallace Thornhill

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Sun, 15 Dec 2013 19:00 UTC
Sott Talk Radio logo
In the wake of recent discoveries, a new way of seeing the physical universe is emerging. The new vantage point emphasizes the role of electricity in space and shows the negligible contribution of gravity in cosmic events.

Images returned by high-powered telescopes and recent space probes have challenged astronomers' long-standing assumptions about galaxies and their constituent stars, about the evolution of our solar system, and about the nature and history of Earth.

The new discoveries also suggest that our early ancestors may have witnessed awe inspiring electrical events in the heavens - the source of myths and symbols around the world.

In December 2013 on Sott Talk Radio we interviewed Australian physicist Wallace Thornhill. Wallace graduated in physics at Melbourne University in 1964 and began postgraduate studies with Prof. Victor Hopper's upper atmosphere research group. Before entering university, he had been inspired by Immanuel Velikovsky through his controversial best-selling book, Worlds in Collision. Wallace has published several books with David Talbott including Thunderbolts of the Gods and The Electric Universe, on the combined subjects of the recent history of the solar system and the Electric nature of the Universe. So, in short, he was the ideal person to discuss this most interesting of topics with us.

Running Time: 01:54:00

Download: MP3

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