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'Stirring' Secrets Of Deadly Supervolcanoes Uncovered


Science Daily
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:52 UTC
Researchers from McGill University and the University of British Columbia (UBC) have simulated in the lab the process that can turn ordinary volcanic eruptions into so-called "supervolcanoes," with potentially devastating worldwide impact.

The study was conducted by Dr. Ben Kennedy and and Dr. Mark Jellinek of UBC's Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, and Dr. John Stix, chair of McGill University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Their results were published May 25 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Supervolcanoes
©iStockphoto/Koch Valérie
Supervolcanoes are orders of magnitude greater than any volcanic eruption in historic times. They are capable of causing long-lasting change to weather, threatening the extinction of species, and covering huge areas with lava and ash.
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Star

Earth may once have had three moons

Bob Brockie
Stuff.co.nz
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:45 UTC
Americans Jack Lissauer and John Chapman calculate that our present moon was once flanked by two smaller moons called Trojans. Each of these moonlets was about one kilometre across and all three would have been visible at the same time. If you can imagine our present moon at 12 o'clock in the night sky, the Trojans would shine at 10 and 2 o'clock. The astronomers think the two extra moons hung in our skies in gravitationally stable zones for hundreds of millions of years before breaking up or drifting off into space.
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Telescope

NASA's novel instrument would help shed new light on gamma ray bursts


NewKerala.com
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:44 UTC
Scientists at a US university has helped in designing a new NASA instrument which would help astrophysicists learn more about cosmic explosions that create gamma ray bursts.

Gamma ray bursts are flashes of the most powerful energy in the electromagnetic spectrum - stronger than X-rays and at least 1,000 times as powerful as visible light.

This cosmic phenomenon would be studied by NASA's new GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) Burst Monitor, an instrument scheduled to be rocketed into orbit next month.
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Wine

Nanoscience, Neuroscience and Astrophysics Pioneers Win Inaugural Kavli Prize


azonano.com
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:13 UTC
Seven pioneering scientists who have transformed human knowledge in the fields of nanoscience, neuroscience and astrophysics have become the first recipients of the million-dollar Kavli prizes.

The laureates were selected for their groundbreaking research that has significantly advanced our understanding of the unusual properties of matter on an ultra-small scale, the basic circuitry of the human brain and the nature of quasars.
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Telescope

High school students on asteroid patrol for NASA


Salt Lake Tribune
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:03 UTC
Utah - The students of American Fork High School get up pretty early to discover an asteroid.

How early? The 34 students on science teacher Curtis Craig's "Caveman team" of the Killer Asteroid Project arrive to upload their star-measuring software and asteroid database long before school starts. Then begins the long, arduous process of observing telescopic images for asteroid activity. Taking three images shot 20 minutes apart, they sequence them in motion. A small change in the image may signal asteroid movement. Recording the coordinates of that movement on a grid, students extrapolate the trajectory, then submit their reports to Harvard University's Minor Planet Center, which cues up its telescope to students' reported coordinates. If the center's telescope finds an image to match those coordinates, a new asteroid discovery is born.
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Telescope

Iowa State University Center Maps Out Asteroid Defense Strategies

Alexis Madrigal
Wired
Thu, 29 May 2008 17:56 UTC
Asteroid deflection is one of those topics that draws an eclectic mix of serious NASA engineers, professors, and crazy people.

To help sort through decades of scientific research and a century of science fiction, Iowa State university professor Bong Wie is establishing the first-ever Asteroid Deflection Research Center.

The Center will look at all available technologies that could be deployed to some day keep a space rock from slamming into the Earth and ending civilization.
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Hourglass

Ancient Egyptian Temple Entrance Found in Nile River

Andrew Bossone
National Geographic
Tue, 27 May 2008 17:39 UTC


Nile Aswan stone
©Supreme Council of Antiquities

Archaeologists have discovered a portico, or covered entryway, of an ancient Egyptian temple beneath the surface of the Nile River.

The entryway once led to the temple of the ram-headed fertility god Khnum, experts say.

A team of Egyptian archaeologist-divers found the portico in Aswan while conducting the first-ever underwater surveys of the Nile, which began earlier this year.
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Info

New High-Temperature Superconductors Are Iron-based With Unusual Magnetic Properties


Science Daily
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:18 UTC
In the initial studies of a new class of high-temperature superconductors discovered earlier this year, research at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has revealed that new iron-based superconductors share similar unusual magnetic properties with previously known superconducting copper-oxide materials.

superconductors
©Robert Rathe
The magnetic structure of the new iron-based superconductors was determined at the thermal triple-axis spectrometer at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. Physicists Jeff Lynn and Ying Chen prepare the instrument for use.
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Info

Gene Mutations Responsible For 10 Percent Of Schizophrenia Pinpointed


Science Daily
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:12 UTC
People with schizophrenia from families with no history of the illness were found to harbor eight times more spontaneous mutations -- most in pathways affecting brain development -- than healthy controls. By contrast, no spontaneous mutations were found in people with schizophrenia who had family histories of the illness. The findings strongly suggest that rare, spontaneous mutations likely contribute to vulnerability in cases of schizophrenia from previously unaffected families.

Genetic mutations
©P. Alexander Arguello, Columbia University Medical Center, May 2008
A. Genetic mutations that result in fewer than two (middle offspring) or more than two (right offspring) genomic copies of a chromosomal region, are present in individuals who have schizophrenia, but not present in their biological parents who do not have the disease. For comparison, a family with an unaffected offspring is indicated at the left. B. A schematic representation of a spontaneous copy number mutation found in one individual with schizophrenia. This mutation results in loss of genes, including a gene affecting neurodevelopment (EPHB1).
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Robot

Monkeys control robotic limbs using only their thoughts

Anja Schulze
maltastar.com
Sat, 31 May 2008 00:00 UTC
A team of American scientists published a report in the journal Nature on Wednesday which proves that monkeys have been able to control a robotic arm using only their thoughts.

The animals were able to feed themselves with a prosthetic arm which was controlled by brain activity.
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