A space storm has been observed exploding from a central point in Earth's upper atmosphere for the first time. The result could one day lead to better predictions of the storms, which can harm satellites and power grids on the ground.
The energy that powers space storms comes from clouds of plasma hurled at Earth by the sun. These clouds stretch our planet's magnetic field like a rubber band, storing energy in a long magnetic tail behind our planet.
The energy released when the field snaps back into place creates the ethereal glow of auroras (see a gallery of the light shows). It also floods the space around our planet with radiation that can incapacitate satellites and sicken astronauts, and can trigger electric currents on Earth capable of knocking out power grids.
Now, scientists have obtained the clearest view yet of the energy that was released in the magnetic tail arriving and initiating a disturbance in Earth's upper atmosphere, or ionosphere.
Science & Technology
Most of the data relates to the central question of the role water might have played in the planet's past, and a new paper in Science, describing Opportunity's exploration of Victoria Crater in Meridiani Planum, a plain near the equator, is no exception.
The paper, by Steven W. Squyres, a Cornell astronomer, and more than 30 colleagues, summarizes information that has been released over the past several years, and can itself be summarized in two words - wet and windy. As in, water and wind have altered the terrain around the crater as they have done elsewhere, suggesting that the processes are regional in scope.
The paper, by Steven W. Squyres, a Cornell astronomer, and more than 30 colleagues, summarizes information that has been released over the past several years, and can itself be summarized in two words - wet and windy. As in, water and wind have altered the terrain around the crater as they have done elsewhere, suggesting that the processes are regional in scope.
© Sinopix / Rex Features
At Hong Kong airport, a screen shows the location of a person in the airport, while immigration and health inspectors check the temperature and travel routes of visitors to see if they have the H1N1 virus.
At Hong Kong airport, a screen shows the location of a person in the airport, while immigration and health inspectors check the temperature and travel routes of visitors to see if they have the H1N1 virus.
Future pandemics will almost certainly be spread via air travel, with flights capable of carrying a pathogen across the world in hours. The UN's Convention on International Civil Aviation requires nations to "prevent the spread of communicable diseases by means of air navigation". That is easier said than done, especially in poorer regions.
Enter CAPSCA - the Cooperative Arrangement for the Prevention of the Spread of Communicable diseases by Air travel. CAPSCA aims to help airports in developing nations prepare for a pandemic, and its schemes are now getting off the ground in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Africa.
© NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / Texas A&M University
This image was taken by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on June 5, 2008, the eleventh day after landing. It shows the robotic arm scoop, with a soil sample, poised over the partially open door of the lander's oven
This image was taken by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on June 5, 2008, the eleventh day after landing. It shows the robotic arm scoop, with a soil sample, poised over the partially open door of the lander's oven
In 1976, many people's hopes of finding life on Mars collapsed when the twin Viking landers failed to detect even minute quantities of organic compounds - the complex, carbon-containing molecules that are central to life as we know it. "It contributed, in my opinion, to the fact that there were no additional [US lander] missions to Mars for 20 years," says Jeff Moore of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
The result also created a puzzle. Even if Mars has never had life, comets and asteroids that have struck the planet should have scattered at least some organic molecules - though not produced by life - over its surface.
Some have suggested that organics were cleansed from the surface by naturally occurring, highly reactive chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide. Then last year, NASA's Phoenix lander, which also failed to detect organics on Mars, stumbled on something in the Martian soil that may have, in effect, been hiding the organics: a class of chemicals called perchlorates.
© Vickie Siegel
The 16-foot-tall frame of the Bot House nears completion on the ice-covered surface of Lake Bonney.
The 16-foot-tall frame of the Bot House nears completion on the ice-covered surface of Lake Bonney.
If there is life there, it's likely to be in the ocean, and although the moon's surface may hold clues to what lies below, making a comprehensive plan to search for life on Europa means figuring out how to probe its watery depths.
NASA's ENDURANCE project - the acronym stands for Environmentally Non-Disturbing Underwater Robotic Antarctic Explorer - is a step in that direction.
Funded by the agency's ASTEP (Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets) program and headed by Peter Doran, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, ENDURANCE has completed the first of two field seasons exploring the ice-covered Lake Bonney in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys. Antarctica's ice-covered lakes, said Doran, "can be used as models of an ice-covered ocean on Europa on a much smaller scale."
© Unknown
Kermanshah houses various ancient artifacts
Kermanshah houses various ancient artifacts
The unique archeological discovery reveals Iran was the main Neolithic center of the Middle East.
"The historical site dates back to 9800 BC and evidence suggest inhabitance in the site continued until 7400 BC," said Hassan Fazeli, the director of Iran's Archeology Research Center.
Archeologists believe such findings prove that Iran's dwellers moved out of caves around 11,800 years ago and settled in plains.
© Unknown
A manuscript of Avicenna's seminal 'Canon of Medicine'
A manuscript of Avicenna's seminal 'Canon of Medicine'
The Protection Unit of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization found the manuscript which dates from the Safavid era (1501-1736) in Iran's western province of Hamadan.
"Police forces in Hamadan recovered the manuscript, which was pilfered on May 18, this morning," said Colonel Nazari, the head of the protection unit.
"Cultural heritage experts confirmed the text is the original manuscript stolen from the museum adjacent to Avicenna's mausoleum," Nazari added.
No details about the robbery or the perpetrators was released.
© Unknown
They call the formation "K'lpalekw", which means in their tongue of Secwepemc'tsn "Coyote's Penis". The lake, the canyon and this structure all have special spiritual significance to the nearby native communities, but NASA isn't interested in the spiritually of the place, they believe that what lies under the lake could help answer the question of the origins of life itself.
© BBC
The short section of hurdle trackway had eroded out of the marine clay on the Swansea foreshore.
The short section of hurdle trackway had eroded out of the marine clay on the Swansea foreshore.
The short section of track was discovered by a metal detector enthusiast and archaeologists have now dated it to around 4,000 years ago.
Woven from narrow branches of oak and alder the structure was covered in a thin layer of brushwood to provide a level walking-surface.
© sulaco229, stock.xchng
Elayne Pope's group spends its time setting fire to corpses in a range of different circumstances, to work out exactly how the human body burns
Elayne Pope's group spends its time setting fire to corpses in a range of different circumstances, to work out exactly how the human body burns
Around a dozen onlookers were at the scene - including police, fire investigators and death investigators - yet all they did was watch. That was, after all, their job. The "victim" had in fact died some time ago, having previously donated his remains to medical research.
His body had reached a unique team led by Elayne Pope, a forensic scientist at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. Her group spends its time setting fire to corpses in a range of different circumstances, to work out exactly how the human body burns. They seem to be the only group carrying out such systematic studies in this area, and are certainly the only ones publishing their work.
