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A new satellite view of the blue mists over the Great Smoky Mountains

Stephanie Pappas
CBS News
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 11:18 UTC
Smokey Mts. US
© NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY
This image of the Great Smoky Mountains is a mosaic that was stitched together from the most cloud-free pixels snapped by the satellites Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 between 1986 and 2013.
A new satellite view of the Smoky Mountains shows the blue mist that gives the region its name.

The image, shared by NASA's Earth Observatory, is a best-pixel image of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in east Tennessee. That means that it's made up of the most cloud-free pixels taken from the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites between 1986 and 2013.

Gatlinburg, the town hit hard by a fast-moving wildfire in November, is visible in this view as a grayish blur tucked between ridges. East of Gatlinburg is Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6,643 feet. Clingman's Dome is also the highest point in all of Tennessee. The body of water just right of the center of the image is Lake Fontana in North Carolina, a reservoir on the Little Tennessee River.

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Beaker

Scientists create 'semi-synthetic life' by adding extra letters to DNA


RT
Wed, 25 Jan 2017 15:36 UTC
DNA model
© Garry Moore / www.globallookpress.com
Scientists have created a new "unnatural" organism by expanding the letters in the genetic alphabet. Unlike previous attempts, this bacteria-based lifeform turned out to be more "life-like."

The genetic alphabet encodes the biological information of all types of life on Earth. It is made up of four letters that form two base pairs - the DNA double helix.

However, a team of scientists from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California have created a lab organism that has been modified to add two more letters, giving it a genetic code of six letters.

The team, whose work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, have shown that their single-celled organism can hold on indefinitely to the synthetic base pair as it divides.

"We've made this semisynthetic organism more life-like," senior author of the study Professor Floyd Romesberg said in a statement.

At the moment, the new technology cannot be put to very much use. Romesberg likened the new "flawed" organism to an infant. It had some learning to do before it was ready for real life. But it is hoped that it could be used to create new kinds of single-celled organisms that could lead to the discovery of new drugs.
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Meteor

An asteroid is about to slip between Earth and the moon — the second near miss in 3 weeks

Dave Mosher
Yahoo! News
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 23:29 UTC
asteroid
© Shutterstock
Less than 3 weeks ago, while America was getting the kids to school and arriving at work, an asteroid the size of a building slipped past Earth from a distance about halfway to the moon.

Now a similar space rock is about to zoom by our helpless planet.

The new near-Earth object (NEO), dubbed asteroid 2017 BX, was only discovered a few days ago, on Friday, January 20. It's slated to swing by Tuesday night at 11:54 p.m. ET at a distance of about 162,000 miles (261,000 kilometers) — roughly two-thirds the way to the moon.

We first heard about it via an email from Slooh, a company that airs live views of space, and they're hosting a broadcast about 2017 BX — which they've nicknamed "Rerun" — starting at 5:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Comment: Here is the partial list of fireballs observed during the last year alone.

See also:

Asteroid or Comet? NASA detects two space rocks heading towards Earth

Another close shave: Asteroid discovered 4 days ago whizzes past Earth

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Beaker

New science says DNA begins as a quantum wave form

Lance Schuttler
The Mind Unleashed
Wed, 18 Jan 2017 22:26 UTC
DNA molecule
© stockclip
One strand of DNA from one single cell contains enough information to clone an entire organism. Obviously, understanding DNA allows us to understand much about life and the universe around us. A deeper understanding of the new science tell us that DNA beings not as a molecule, but as a wave form. Even more interestingly, this wave form exists as a pattern within time and space and is coded throughout the entire universe.

We are surrounded by pulsating waves of invisible genetic information, whose waves create microscopic gravitational forces that pull in atoms and molecules from their surrounding environment to construct DNA.

One scientist who caught these microgravitational forces in their action is Dr. Sergey Leikin. In 2008, Leikin put different types of DNA in regular salt water and marked each type with a different fluorescent color and the DNA molecules were then scattered throughout the water. In the experiment's major surprise, matching DNA molecules were found pairing together. After a short time, entire clusters of the same colored DNA molecules had formed. Leikin believes some sort of electromagnetic charge allowed the same colored molecules to cluster. However, other experiments show that this is not the case. That it is most likely to be gravity. Let us explain.

In 2011, Nobel Prize winner Dr. Luc Montagnier demonstrated that DNA can be spontaneously formed out of merely hydrogen and oxygen. He started out with a hermetically sealed tube of pure sterilized water and then placed another sealed tube next to it, which had small amounts of DNA floating in water. Montagnier then electrified both tubes with a weak, 7 hertz electromagnetic field and waited. 18 hours later, little pieces of DNA had grown in the original tube, which consisted of only pure sterilized water.
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Smoking

Why do so many people with schizophrenia smoke? It eases sluggish brain function

Milla Bengtsson
Reliawire
Mon, 23 Jan 2017 22:00 UTC
smoking
© Shannon Holman/Flickr
Daily nicotine normalizes genetically-induced impairments in brain activity associated with schizophrenia, suggests new research. The finding helps clarify what causes the disease and why those who have it tend to smoke heavily.

The work could ultimately lead to new non-addictive, nicotine-based treatments for some of the 51 million people worldwide who suffer from the disease, the authors of the study envision.

Jerry Stitzel, a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG) and one of four CU Boulder researchers involved in the study, said:
"Our study provides compelling biological evidence that a specific genetic variant contributes to risk for schizophrenia, defines the mechanism responsible for the effect and validates that nicotine improves that deficit."
Surprising Nicotine Effect

The study found that when mice with schizophrenic characteristics were given nicotine daily, their sluggish brain activity increased within two days. Within one week it had normalized.

Comment: Why spend all that time and money creating a new drug that works like nicotine? Just use nicotine!

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People 2

UK scientists discover 'Sex hormone' that boosts arousal & romantic love


RT
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 15:46 UTC
love locks
© Charles Platiau / Reuters
Scientists are trialing a hormone linked to feelings of sexiness and romance as a potential cure for psychological sexual problems.

Researchers at Imperial College London believe an injection of the hormone, called 'kisspeptin,' could stimulate sexual arousal and romance in the brain after early-stage trials yielded positive results.

They speculate the naturally occurring hormone, which is essential to the body's reproductive system, could help people overcome psychosexual problems in the future.

Scientists gave kisspeptin injections to 29 healthy young men and found the hormone increased the brain's response to pictures of couples in romantic or sexual situations.
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Better Earth

Stunningly beautiful and detailed images have just arrived from new GOES-16 satellite

Angela Fritz
The Washington Post
Mon, 23 Jan 2017 11:45 UTC
NOAA GOES-16 satellite image
© NOAA / NASA
GOES-16 captured this view of the moon, as it looks across the Pacific Northwest on Jan. 15. As with earlier GOES spacecraft, GOES-16 will use the moon for calibration.
The satellite formerly known as GOES-R (so Prince, right?) has transmitted its first images back to Earth, and they are flooring. From the details on the face of the moon to the incredible resolution of cumulus over the Caribbean, these first pixels portend a sunny future for NOAA's new GOES-16 satellite.

Meteorologists are drooling. This release coincides with the first day of the American Meteorological Society's annual meeting. There are thousands of weather geeks in Seattle this week, and — at least on Monday — they're all looking at this next-gen satellite imagery.

As we've written before, GOES-R satellite has six instruments, two of which are weather-related. The Advanced Baseline Imager, developed by Harris Corp., is the "camera" that looks down on Earth. The pictures it sends back will be clearer and more detailed than what's created by the current satellites.
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Microscope 1

Synthetic DNA paves way for creation of entirely new life forms

Ian Sample
The Guardian
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 15:29 UTC
DNA gene genetics
© Russell Kightley
E coli microbes have been modified to carry an expanded genetic code which researchers say will ultimately allow them to be programmed

From the moment life gained a foothold on Earth its story has been written in a DNA code of four letters. With G, T, C and A - the molecules that pair up in the DNA helix - the lines between humans and all life on Earth are spelled out.

Now, the first living organisms to thrive with an expanded genetic code have been made by researchers in work that paves the way for the creation and exploitation of entirely new life forms.
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Document

Chinese scientists develop paper that can survive Hell or high water (VIDEO)


Sputnik
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 14:22 UTC
Chinese paper
© AFP 2016/ Jean-Christophe Verhaegen
Scientists from China, where paper was first invented about 2,000 years ago, say they have developed a new form of the material that is fire and water-resistant.

A research team at the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics led by Professor Zhu Yingjie developed the world's first kind of paper that can resist both water and fire, even if its surface is scratched or physically damaged.

The scientists added a form of calcium called hydroxyapatite, found in animal tooth enamel and bone, to change the structure of paper and give it special properties, the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported.

The paper looks similar to the conventional product but has a slightly smoother surface. The researchers say it can repel coffee, juice or tea, and withstand heat of up to 200 degrees Celsius. They also claim the paper can be wiped clean with water without smudging what is written on it.
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Galaxy

Dark matter may be killing galaxies across the Universe


Phys.org
Tue, 17 Jan 2017 19:02 UTC
ram-pressure stripping killing galaxies
© ICRAR, NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
An artist's impression showing the increasing effect of ram-pressure stripping in removing gas from galaxies, sending them to an early death.
It's the big astrophysical whodunnit. Across the Universe, galaxies are being killed and the question scientists want answered is, what's killing them?

New research published today by a global team of researchers, based at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), seeks to answer that question. The study reveals that a phenomenon called ram-pressure stripping is more prevalent than previously thought, driving gas from galaxies and sending them to an early death by depriving them of the material to make new stars.

The study of 11,000 galaxies shows their gas—the lifeblood for star formation—is being violently stripped away on a widespread scale throughout the local Universe.

Toby Brown, leader of the study and PhD candidate at ICRAR and Swinburne University of Technology, said the image we paint as astronomers is that galaxies are embedded in clouds of dark matter that we call dark matter halos.

Dark matter is the mysterious material that despite being invisible accounts for roughly 27 per cent of our Universe, while ordinary matter makes up just 5 per cent. The remaining 68 per cent is dark energy.
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