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Mystery of deep-sea 'purple sock' creature solved


BBC News
Mon, 08 Feb 2016 22:28 UTC
Purple sock creature
© Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
The mystery of a deep-sea creature that resembles a discarded purple sock has been solved, scientists report.

The animal, called Xenoturbella, is so bizarre that for 60 years researchers could not work out what it was - or where it fitted into the family tree. But the discovery of four new species in the Pacific has enabled scientists to conclude that this animal belongs to one of the earliest branches of life.

The study is published in the journal Nature. Lead researcher Prof Greg Rouse, from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US, said: "Our nickname for them was purple socks. "So if you think of a sock that you have taken off and thrown on the floor - they literally look like that. "Or a deflated balloon."

Xenoturbella was first described in 1949. The ocean oddity has no eyes, no brain and no gut. Just a small gaping mouth from which food goes in - and then waste comes out. Only one species was known, and it left scientists scratching their heads.

Early genetic tests mistakenly placed the marine "sock" as a mollusc. "But, it turned out they had sequenced the DNA of what it eats," explained Prof Rouse. Other researchers thought that it was a once-sophisticated creature that had got rid of all of its complex features as it evolved.
Sock creature
© Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
The discovery of four new species from the depths of Pacific Ocean has allowed scientists to study this animal more closely. With Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), they have been able to film these creatures for the first time. They include a new large specimen, which is more than 20cm-long, which has been called Xenoturbella monstrosa. And also Xenoturbella churro: named after the sweet, fried Spanish pastry, which it resembles - in an admittedly less appetising way.
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Eye 1

Meet Eyeris: DARPA is developing AI drones that think like humans

Cassius Methyl
Era of Wisdom
Mon, 08 Feb 2016 17:30 UTC
drone power
The Pentagon's "mad scientist" division DARPA is trying to replicate the human brain in a microchip, to equip drones or satellites with the ability to quickly sort intelligence and come to conclusions mid-flight.

Normally data acquired from surveillance drones must be sorted out on the ground manually by"hundreds of human analysts," according to Sputnik. The process of gathering and using intelligence is surely more complex than can be easily explained.

What we know is that if successfully developed, these drones will essentially be flying robots of war armed with artificial intelligence. The microchip is dubbed "Eyeriss."
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Info

Memory cells activated more easily when brain is exposed to new information


Science Daily
Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
granual cells brain
© Burgalossi Lab
Granual cells in the gyrus dentatus of a rat, seen through a fluorescent microscope (light blue).
Tübingen neuroscientists have succeeded in activating dormant memory cells in rats. Using weak electrical impulses targeted at previously inactive cells in the hippocampus, the researchers induced the cells to recognize the exact place where the impulse had been first administered. In rodents as well as humans, the hippocampus is the brain area responsible for memory. Therefore, the new study by researchers of the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) at the University of Tübingen offers insight into the question of how memories are formed within our brains. Their findings are published in Current Biology.

Memory is one of the most important functions of our brain. Not only does it allow us to regale our grandchildren with the exploits of our youth; it is essential for many everyday procedures. Our memory is constantly and immediately active whenever we experience a new thing. For instance, after meeting somebody only once, we still recognise them after hours or days. And even when we go somewhere for the first time -- for instance, the perfume section of a department store, a particular office in a building, or the toilet in a restaurant -- we will usually be able to find our way to the exit without a problem.
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Binoculars

Rare planetary alignment: How and when to see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in February's night sky

Joe Raol
Space.com
Fri, 05 Feb 2016 15:15 UTC
five planets alignment
© NASA/JPL-Caltech
Early risers have an opportunity to see five planets in pre-dawn skies during late January and continuing through late February.
This month, planet-watching opportunities will build slowly throughout the night — there won't be much to see at first, but patient skywatchers can end the night with glimpses of five bright planets in the sky.

In early February, there will not be a single bright planet in the sky at dusk, but as the night progresses, dazzling Jupiter becomes more and more apparent, rising in the eastern sky during evening twilight. Next up is Mars, which doesn't arrive until the witching hour of midnight; its steady approach toward Earth causes it to increase noticeably in brightness. Jupiter is high toward the south when Mars emerges above the horizon, and Mars, in turn, is followed 2 to 3 hours later by Saturn. Then, within 2 hours of sunrise, Venus rises. It is followed closely by the innermost planet, Mercury, giving skywatchers an opportunity to see all five planets in the sky at once.

For most of us, the best opportunity to pull off this feat will come during the first week of February. [5 Dawn Planets And A Dusk Comet In Feb. 2016 Skywatching (Video)]


Comment: Five planets align for first time in a decade; last time: Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, December 26 2004

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Sun

Morocco unveils a massive solar thermal power plant in the Sahara

Camila Domonoske
NPR
Sat, 06 Feb 2016 23:33 UTC
Noor I Concentrated Solar Power plant
© Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images
The Noor I Concentrated Solar Power plant, shown on Thursday, is the first phase of a large solar thermal power plant that is intended to supply more than a million Moroccans with electricity.
Morocco has officially turned on a massive solar power plant in the Sahara Desert, kicking off the first phase of a planned project to provide renewable energy to more than a million Moroccans.

The Noor I power plant is located near the town of Ouarzazate, on the edge of the Sahara. It's capable of generating up to 160 megawatts of power and covers thousands of acres of desert, making the first stage alone one of the world's biggest solar thermal power plants.

When the next two phases, Noor II and Noor III, are finished, the plant will be the single largest solar power production facility in the world, The Guardian says.
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Stop

What could go wrong? Biotech industry wants to create GE 'frankentree' plantations

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Sat, 06 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
synthetic forests
If the biotech industry has its way, 184 million acres of native forests around the world will be bulldozed down and replaced with plantations of genetically engineered (GE) trees.

On these proposed GE tree plantations, there are essentially no other plants, insects, birds, or wildlife — just rows upon rows of cloned Frankentrees growing at accelerated rates on a crust of dead, lifeless soil above dwindling groundwater reserves.

Trees are being genetically engineered with unnatural characteristics, such as the ability to kill insects, tolerate colder temperatures, resist toxic chemicals, and grow faster — but these "advantages" come at an unacceptable price.

"Synthetic Forests" is a documentary exposing the truth about GE trees. In this short but hard-hitting film, leading scientists discuss the devastating and irreversible impacts of allowing GE trees into our global ecosystem.

Comment: Will fast-growing eucalyptus trees take root as cash crop across the South?

Various experiments are underway across the South studying the possibility of farming eucalyptus trees. While awaiting permission from the USDA to begin selling seedlings commercially, Arborgen was allowed to begin trial plantings in dozens of locations, including two in Alabama. The results at the Auburn site were mixed, according to Auburn officials. "It hasn't turned out quite the way they planned. The trees just haven't grown like they thought they would".

The trees are also thirsty, sending tap roots down more than 40 feet underground, where they are able to suck straight from aquifers. An Environmental Assessment by the USDA noted that conversion of pine plantation to eucalyptus had reduced the flow in nearby streams up to 20 percent in some cases. A more recent scientific paper by USDA scientists concluded that "localized reductions in water resources may occur immediately downstream of (Frost Tolerant) Eucalyptus plantations." If a large number of the trees were planted, the report concluded that "regional reductions" in stream flow and the overall level of the water table could occur. USDA scientists also predict a strong likelihood that the modified species used in plantation forestry will become naturalized in the southeastern USA.

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Sun

China has created short-lived artificial 'sun' using nuclear fusion


Press TV
Sat, 06 Feb 2016 03:01 UTC
EAST reactor
© www.presstv.ir
Chinese nuclear reactor, known as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), located in eastern China, features a hollow metal chamber in the shape of a doughnut, in which searing hydrogen atoms turn into plasma. Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls.
Chinese scientists have managed to create searing plasma through heating hydrogen gas three times hotter than our Sun's core in a controlled experiment in eastern China, paving the way for a migration from depleting natural reserves towards more stable, sustainable, and controllable energy resources.

The experiment was conducted in the doughnut-shaped chamber of a magnetic fusion reactor last week at the Institute of Physical Science in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, where nuclear scientists heated hydrogen up to a temperature of around 50 million degrees Celsius, the South China Morning Post reported on Friday.
The reactor, officially known as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), produced hydrogen plasma — the ionized gas consisting of approximately equal numbers of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons — and maintained its temperature for 102 seconds.
A few days before the Chinese experiment, German scientists, in a similar experiment, used two megawatts of microwave radiation to heat hydrogen gas and create plasma. They managed to reach a temperature of 80 million degrees Celsius but could only maintain it for a fraction of a second.

The officials at EAST hope to approximate the solar nuclear fusion conditions, which occur deep inside the sun and convert hydrogen atoms into heavier ones, like Helium. In such fusion reaction some tiny portions of matter turn into massive amounts of energy through fusing Hydrogen nuclei together. The team, however, are halfway in their endeavor as they must reach 100 million degrees Celsius and maintain it for over 1,000 seconds (some 17 minutes) to mimic solar nuclear fusion reaction and produce controlled energy.

Humans have so far managed to create fusion energy through detonating nuclear bombs, dubbed thermonuclear or Hydrogen bombs, but the problem is the destructive and uncontrollable energy they release. The first such bomb was tested by the United States in 1952 in Enewetak Atoll islands, located in the Pacific Ocean.
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2 + 2 = 4

Brain volume changes after cognitive behavioral therapy


Science Daily
Tue, 02 Feb 2016 19:56 UTC
Brain picture
© Sergey Nivens / Fotolia
The researchers found that in patients with SAD, brain volume and activity in the amygdala decrease as a result of internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy.
After just nine weeks of internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy, the brain of patients suffering from social anxiety disorder changes in volume. Anxiety is reduced, and parts of the patients' brains decrease in both volume and activity. This study could help us develop more effective therapies for one of the most common problems in mental health.

We have known for many years that the brain is remarkably adaptable. For instance, previous studies have shown that juggling and video games affect brain volume. However many questions about how the brain adapts remain unanswered.

Comment: Specialized Cognitive Behavioral Treatment Available For People With PTSD And Serious Mental Illness

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Bulb

Babies can see things that adults cannot

Marissa Fessenden
smithsonianmag.com
Fri, 05 Feb 2016 19:46 UTC
baby sight
© Catherine DELAHAYE/Photononstop/Corbis)
When babies are just three to four months old, they can pick out image differences that adults never notice. But after the age of five months, the infants lose their super-sight abilities, reports Susana Martinez-Conde for Scientific American.

Don't get too jealous of the superior discrimination that infants have however: The reason adults—or even babies older than about eight months—don't have it is because overtime, our brains learn what differences are important to notice.
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Blue Planet

Why a walk in the woods really does help your body and your soul


The Conversation
Sun, 31 Jan 2016 17:11 UTC
Walk in the forest
© Shutterstock/Stokkete
There’s something in the tree air and it’s good for you.
Have you ever wondered why you feel healthier and happier when you stroll through the trees or frolic by the sea? Is it just that you're spending time away from work, de-stressing and taking in the view? Or is there more to it?

For more than 20 years, scientists have been trying to determine the mechanisms by which exposure to biodiversity improves health. Japanese scientists pioneered the search when they travelled to the island of Yakushima, famous for its biodiversity.

The Japanese already had a name for the experience of well-being in nature: shinrin-yoku or "forest bathing".
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