tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16734215754303815572024-03-18T20:29:05.349-07:00Endless World ReconnaissanceExcelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-36986915053512025502014-11-18T00:41:00.001-08:002014-11-18T00:41:29.761-08:00Apa itu Tukeran Link?<br /><br />
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<a href="http://ticketbackpacker.com/" target="_blank">Good insights before roaming around the world</a>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-11067510231668565342014-02-21T21:26:00.000-08:002014-02-23T23:54:12.354-08:00Bintaro Jaya Xchange, Mall pusat lifestyle dan belanja terbaru di selatan JakartaTerletak di pinggir jalan tol Bintaro - BSD, tidak jauh dari pintu masuk tol. <a href="http://malldijakarta.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Mal</a> yang baru saja dibuka ini memiliki konsep unik nan menarik perhatian karena menawarkan sejumlah fitur yang tidak dimiliki mal lain seperti eskalator tertinggi yang pernah ada, menghubungkan lantai dua dengan lantai tiga. Eskalator ini dapat menguji nyali anda akan ketinggian, tapi sangat disarankan agar tidak melakukan hal-hal bodoh ketika menaiki eskalator tersebut, jika anda masih ingin melihat hari esok xD. Mal ini juga mempunya fasilitas Ice skating yang bersahabat untuk anda yang berpengalaman maupun yang tidak berpengalaman, perlengkapan dan peralatan Ice skating dapat dibawa sendiri ataupun memakai fasilitas yang sudah disediakan dalam paket. Untuk konsumer, mal ini juga menjanjikan konter-konter belanja dan pilihan tempat jajan makanan dan minuman yang lengkap, bermutu, nyaman, dan bersahabat. Bagi kita yang ingin memulai ataupun mengekspansi bisnis kita, Mal ini menawarkan lokasi yang strategis untuk bisnis-bisnis seperti makanan, minuman, fashion, buku, multimedia, teater, jasa pendidikan(training), jasa transportasi, jasa konsultasi, automotif, dan lain-lain. Mal ini juga memiliki fasilitas ruang meeting yang didesain secara professional agar nyaman dan kondusif dengan segala jenis pertemuan. Hal yang paling menarik pada mal ini bagi saya adalah sensasi spacey(lapang), mewah, indah, dan nyaman yang kurang saya rasakan di mal-mal lain yang pernah saya kunjungi. Untuk saat ini saya rasa belum cukup materi untuk membuat kesimpulan penilaian karena mal ini masih dalam tahap pembangunan.<br />
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(BXc Mall) hadir sebagai pusat perbelanjaan terbaru di Selatan Jakarta.
Mengusung konsep yang mengacu pada <em>lifestyle centre</em> dengan
<em>interactive green area</em> yang mengedepankan gaya hidup peduli terhadap
lingkungan.<br /><br />Dari total kawasan superblok seluas 25 hektar yang
dikembangkan oleh PT. Jaya Real Property, Tbk, enam hektar diantaranya dijadikan
<em>green belt area</em> yang dilengkapi berbagai fasilitas pendukung.
Pengunjung akan menemukan “BXc Park” yang terhubung langsung dengan BXc Mall.
Beragam kegiatan outdoor dapat dilakukan disini, mulai dari taman-taman yang
bertema khusus, <em>water feature</em>, panggung, <em>seating area</em>,
<em>pedestrian walk</em> untuk pejalan kaki dan pesepeda, serta area
jogging.<br /><br /><strong>Arena Ice Skating terbesar di
Indonesia</strong><br /><br />Hal menarik lainnya dari Bintaro Jaya Xchange adalah
“Bx Rink” yaitu fasilitas arena <em>ice skating</em> terbesar di Indonesia. BX
Rink berlokasi di <em>upper ground</em> Bintaro Jaya Xchange Mall dengan luas
arena es mencapai 1.320 m2, ditambah sekitar 1.000 m2 untuk fasilitas
pendukungnya. Menariknya, lokasi BX Rink dikelilingi oleh Food Xchange, yang
akan memanjakan pengunjung untuk menikmati makan siang atau makan malam dengan
view yang menghadap langsung ke arena <em>ice skating</em>. Para orang tua tidak
perlu khawatir, karena anak-anak yang bermain di arena <em>ice skating</em> akan
tetap terpantau sembari menyantap makanan. Bx Rink juga mempunyai <em>ice
skating academy</em> untuk berbagai tingkatan umur dan kemahiran. 20 pelatih
berpengalaman yang mengantungi sertifikat ISI Asia siap memberi pelajaran teknik
bermain ice skating secara tepat dan benar.<br /><br /><strong>Pengalaman kuliner
dan berbelanja yang berbeda</strong><br /><br />Bagi para pengunjung yang gemar
berbelanja, beragam <em>anchor tenant </em>di BXc Mall hadir untuk memanjakan
Anda, diantaranya; Centro By Parkson Department Store, Farmer’s Market, Fun
World, Gold Gym, Rockstar Gym, Best Denki Electronic Store, Cinema XXI, dan Food
Xchange.<br />Untuk pengunjung yang mencari kenikmatan kuliner, BXc memberikan
sensasi berbeda dengan tenant-tenant food and beverages (F & B) bernuansa
Alfresco Dining. Semua area F & B didesain menghadap ke sisi luar Mall
dengan pemandangan taman seluas 2,6 hektar. Beberapa tenant yang telah hadir
antara lain; Starbucks Coffee, Tator Coffee, Mokka Coffee, Pizza Hut, Marugame
Udon, Sushi Tei, Tamani Café, Bakmi GM, Samudra Suki, Pepper Lunch, Aroma Pondok
Sunda, Sate Khas Senayan, Kenny Rogers Roasters, dan masih banyak lagi. Alfresco
Dining di empat lantai teras yang menghadap langsung ke <em>outdoor park</em>,
menjadi pilihan terbaik bagi Anda para penikmat kuliner dan <em>coffee
shops</em>.<br /><br /><strong>Akhir pekan di Bintaro Jaya
Xchange</strong><br /><br />Khusus di akhir pekan, BXc Mall akan menghibur para
pengunjung dengan acara musik akustik dengan genre Jazz di hari Sabtu & Top
40 di hari Minggu. BXc Mall mulai beroperasi pukul 10.00 WIB hingga pukul 22.00
WIB. Pada perkembangannya tidak menutup kemungkinan BXc Mall akan menambah jam
operasional, khususnya pada acara atau hari tertentu.<br />Tunggu apa lagi, mari
Xplore and Xperience the Xcitement of Bintaro Jaya Xchange Mall!<br />
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Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-44508494642647876402010-12-29T07:28:00.000-08:002014-02-23T21:29:47.244-08:00Giant Mars Pits Revealed in Sharp Detail<span class="fullpost"> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVIwdh0ZR3BEbieanGvAmnZvLzGYGE4aG9Ggu2RIAxWRB2Fdqhdd0i4kKqLU4j-pgc9plWZ5bDteUzVGSQG_hWsaFwv2vPG245yuLgOVGxph-jsqqPQ_ctBc-nuXyKhWvxOuneew0oZE0/s1600/mars-pits-overview_30639_600x450.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVIwdh0ZR3BEbieanGvAmnZvLzGYGE4aG9Ggu2RIAxWRB2Fdqhdd0i4kKqLU4j-pgc9plWZ5bDteUzVGSQG_hWsaFwv2vPG245yuLgOVGxph-jsqqPQ_ctBc-nuXyKhWvxOuneew0oZE0/s200/mars-pits-overview_30639_600x450.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556127476767839458" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a><br /><br /><br />Mars Caves?<br />Image courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona<br /><br />Looking like space slug hidey-holes, huge pits gouge a bright, dusty plain near the Martianvolcano Ascraeus Mons in a picture taken between October 1 and November 1 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).<br /><br /><br />Released in December, the image is among a series of new views snapped by MRO's HiRISE camera that show intriguing geological features on Mars. Each image covers a strip of Martian ground 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) wide and can reveal a detail about as small as a desk—and so far no sign of Star Wars monsters.<br /><br />MRO's sister orbiter, Mars Odyssey, first noticed the two deep pits—which are about 590 feet (180 meters) and 1,017 feet (310 meters), respectively—a year earlier using its infrared camera, THEMIS. (Related: "Seven Great Mars Pictures From Record-Breaking Probe.")<br /><br />"When compared to the surrounding surface, the dark interiors of the holes gave off heat at night but were cool by day," said Alfred McEwen, principal investigator on the HiRISE camera.<br /><br />"So we then decided to target these with MRO because this thermal information may be evidence for these being caves—but the jury is still out on that."<br /><br />(See "Mars Has Cave Networks, New Photos Suggest.")<br /><br />The MRO has been studying Mars since 2006, beaming back more data than all other past and current missions to the planet combined.
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<a name='more'></a><span class="fullpost"> <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKyFZQwHUpL1EzDwXOLRqoGMs-iwOtzF508i64Q_4ooxUaLU26pAThdoKvFg-XOjdeEF3pPLEBepIX1IXZFaD1WnhA9O4NsZOWQ4qtbhgFvIWpY8nYVMmHQ_SjBLZI8_0KCgyfEwZUX8/s1600/mars-pits-larger_30636_600x450.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKyFZQwHUpL1EzDwXOLRqoGMs-iwOtzF508i64Q_4ooxUaLU26pAThdoKvFg-XOjdeEF3pPLEBepIX1IXZFaD1WnhA9O4NsZOWQ4qtbhgFvIWpY8nYVMmHQ_SjBLZI8_0KCgyfEwZUX8/s200/mars-pits-larger_30636_600x450.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556128990846690386" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 183px;" /></a>Down the Martian Hole<br />Image courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona<br /><br />A sharp close-up of the the larger Martian pit revealed sediment and boulders (seen in a picture taken in fall 2010 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera), as well as hints of sand that was blown inside and trapped in the deepest and darkest parts of the hole, according to NASA.<br /><br />The holes are believed to be vertical shafts that cut through lava flows along the edges of the Ascraeus volcano. Similar features called pit craters—the result of the ground collapsing above a void—can be found on Hawaii's volcanoes. (See "Mars Volcanoes May Re-Erupt, Hawaii Comparison Shows.")<br /><br />Scientists are still debating if these are genuine pits, which are simply vertical shafts in the ground, or caves—holes that lead into hidden horizontal undergound passageways.<br /><br />"The big question is if these are in fact caves," principal investigator McEwen said. "And do they provide some sort of micro-environment that could have supported life on Mars in the past?"<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwvn8w45Vw9DrpBzsLT9DF0sRgA5cj1fl9ExIvP-HfqPKjtXQdRIn0qVeV7CrgqtRlKFy5BnVMKNJhD4NDHG_ufAuGxEayxFUgRFOnMSlbcjbQOR5RxMGvKcj0VKlrU8dZROrvuDl8kNY/s1600/mars-pits-smaller_30637_600x450.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwvn8w45Vw9DrpBzsLT9DF0sRgA5cj1fl9ExIvP-HfqPKjtXQdRIn0qVeV7CrgqtRlKFy5BnVMKNJhD4NDHG_ufAuGxEayxFUgRFOnMSlbcjbQOR5RxMGvKcj0VKlrU8dZROrvuDl8kNY/s200/mars-pits-smaller_30637_600x450.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556129555574684354" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 200px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 172px;" /></a><br />Youthful Pit on Mars<br />Image courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona<br /><br />Car-size boulders punctuate the bottom of the smaller Martian pit (pictured in a fall 2010 HiRISE image). A bright sand dune laced with windblown ripples covers the sloping western side of the hole.<br /><br />The two pits are believed to be relatively young, according to NASA. As the pits age, the slopes become shallow and widen as they material at the edges collapses inward.<br /><br />"There are probably thousands of the older ones, and the younger ones like these, which are very steep and dark, may number be up to dozens," principal investigator McEwen said.<br /><br />(Related: "Mars Has Liquid Water Close to Surface, Study Hints.")<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkhqyxnxQ4XbswgxfYd-7J1E5_wX02PbhQcrMOQsX1XxXDUEM-2mml-RLD1Qhq3v1VtStHxTyYRBy0ScSjfneNG11IAAtVvqCzP74ze9HZXE514BA37gYj4ywGLjFhuFQ00xX3DMFChQ/s1600/mars-pits-mud-volcanoes_30638_600x450.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkhqyxnxQ4XbswgxfYd-7J1E5_wX02PbhQcrMOQsX1XxXDUEM-2mml-RLD1Qhq3v1VtStHxTyYRBy0ScSjfneNG11IAAtVvqCzP74ze9HZXE514BA37gYj4ywGLjFhuFQ00xX3DMFChQ/s200/mars-pits-mud-volcanoes_30638_600x450.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556129871796118754" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a><br />Martian Mud Volcanoes<br />Image courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona<br /><br />Among other recently released pictures from NASA's Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter are these images of apparent mud volcanoes on in Acidalia Planitia, a large basin in Mars's northern lowlands (seen in a fall 2010 HiRISE picture).<br /><br />Mud volcanoes—which also exist on Earth—form when wet, pressurized sediment buried at depth erupts onto the surface. (Related photo: "'Medusa' Worms Found in Mud Volcano.")<br /><br />The Martian mud volcanoes might be prime targets in the search for past life on the red planet, according to NASA. (See Mars pictures.)<br /><br />"If this mud is produced at depth, it could have brought up organic materials that may show biosignatures of some sort of ancient life on Mars," principal investigator McEwen said.<br /><br />(Also see "Does Mars Methane Indicate Life Underground?")<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn_Nty6lyG4GX9EDK9H9bl27jpv5ogOgjOGeCwRv8I7qHF462yVDEsvEPnN-23CYvUXVhyphenhyphenKLagVYt26QJTKm-5H4WDr8EbHuHkE9k8gpsVJn9OodtNPyFNOKw6ReFswCoQch7l8Nf4zhU/s1600/mars-pits-trough_30640_600x450.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn_Nty6lyG4GX9EDK9H9bl27jpv5ogOgjOGeCwRv8I7qHF462yVDEsvEPnN-23CYvUXVhyphenhyphenKLagVYt26QJTKm-5H4WDr8EbHuHkE9k8gpsVJn9OodtNPyFNOKw6ReFswCoQch7l8Nf4zhU/s200/mars-pits-trough_30640_600x450.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556130502886807266" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 150px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>Scar in Martian Lava<br />Image courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona<br /><br />A gigantic trough (center) slices through Mars's Tharsis volcanic region in a fall 2010 picture by HiRISE.<br /><br />Called a graben, the 1.2-mile-wide (2-kilometer-wide) depression formed when a block of the planet's crust dropped down between two faults. In this case, the tectonic movement left nearly vertical walls—each about a kilometer (0.6 mile) deep—on either side. (See another picture of a Mars graben.)<br /><br />"From the scarcity of craters inside the graben, it's estimated to be less than a billion years old," principal investigator McEwen said. "This one is nicely defined because it cuts a well-preserved lava flow."<br /><br /><br /></span>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-89661903374468887872010-12-29T06:50:00.000-08:002014-02-23T21:29:59.129-08:00'Zombiesat' Is Alive!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEYi3y9j8ATCmAeJJJm1GNdmNGrLShxiSDLDHnTcctugoyP65NvxC5UjD1sNcHeGx-HOBazb3WGv5zMDSG0DNAL0Wtdg86cCpD-lxPcu6RCM5vPaWlEv3NdXh8S54MR2ljnypZjsxkCg/s1600/adx.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEYi3y9j8ATCmAeJJJm1GNdmNGrLShxiSDLDHnTcctugoyP65NvxC5UjD1sNcHeGx-HOBazb3WGv5zMDSG0DNAL0Wtdg86cCpD-lxPcu6RCM5vPaWlEv3NdXh8S54MR2ljnypZjsxkCg/s200/adx.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556122862807904962" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 162px;" /></a><br />
<span class="fullpost"> Can reanimated corpses ever really be brought back to life? <br /><br />In the case of the Intelsat Galaxy 15 satellite that had its "brains fried" by a solar flare nine months ago, it would appear that zombies really can be brought back from the dead. <br /><br />Amazingly, the "zombiesat" is back online, communicating with mission control and there's real optimism it might be brought back to full service!<br /><br />SLIDE SHOW: 5 Ways the Solar Wind Will Blow You Away<br /><br />The April solar storm killed Galaxy 15's ability to communicate with Earth but left its payload fully operational, drifting uncontrolled 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) above Earth.<br /><br />As if having a multi-million dollar communications satellite paralyzed in orbit wasn't enough, the satellite gained notoriety in May for threatening the airing of the final episode of Lost. <br /><br />On May 23, the day of the series finale, Galaxy 15 drifted into the geosynchronous orbital slot of AMC-11, a satellite owned by SES World Skies that distributes cable television throughout the USA. Both sats process "C-band" signals, meaning they operate on the same frequencies.<br /><br />As Galaxy 15 simply receives signals from the ground, amplifies them and beams them back to customers on Earth, the concern was that its "bent-pipe" design would steal the signal from AMC-11, interrupting the viewing pleasure of potentially millions of cable customers. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="fullpost"><br />Fortunately for Lost fans, interference was kept to a minimum. (But many viewers still remained baffled as to what Lost was really about.<br /><br />Now that Intelsat has regained control of their wayward -- and possibly resurrected -- zombiesat, we can avoid potential interruptions to future TV shows. Phew.<br /><br />According an Intelsat press release: "We have placed Galaxy 15 in safe mode, and at this time, we are pleased to report it no longer poses any threat of satellite interference to either neighboring satellites or customer services."<br /><br />But how did the company regain control of their hardware? They simply waited until the satellite's batteries drained, forcing a system restart. <br /><br />------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />On 23 December, the power from the Galaxy 15 battery completely drained during its loss of earth lock and the Baseband Equipment (BBE) command unit reset, as it was designed to do. Shortly thereafter Galaxy 15 began accepting commands and Intelsat engineers began receiving telemetry in our Satellite Operations center. -- Intelsat<br />------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Now we await news to see whether the restart will allow the infamous Galaxy 15 to continue service. If it does, perhaps the "zombiesat" should be renamed "resurrectisat."<br /><br /><br /></span>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-35020746354562830372009-01-27T02:29:00.000-08:002014-02-23T21:30:15.271-08:00Solar Eclipse "Ring" Seen Over Indonesia<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Rb-fyyfQy3bop7BRb70bVLBal-mw8lZQSF0Ir44SUI8rhwlaQcWJ_VEQw4QHzcYCEyTIueV37SsCh1xvaoh3K312zsdbONwi_p4OikqwWM61XscON7vP9BQcW0aPOSwVN3-PHSjX7cs/s1600-h/090126-eclipse-01-461.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Rb-fyyfQy3bop7BRb70bVLBal-mw8lZQSF0Ir44SUI8rhwlaQcWJ_VEQw4QHzcYCEyTIueV37SsCh1xvaoh3K312zsdbONwi_p4OikqwWM61XscON7vP9BQcW0aPOSwVN3-PHSjX7cs/s200/090126-eclipse-01-461.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295923682811492354" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 150px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
January 26, 2009--The dark disk of the moon creeps across the setting sun during the first solar eclipse of 2009, as seen on Monday from Manila Bay in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines" target="_blank">Philippines.</a><br />
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People viewing from the southern Indian Ocean were among the few to see the full annular eclipse, so called because at its peak the eclipse is surrounded by an annulus, or ring, of fiery light. <br />
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Because the moon's orbit is elliptical, its distance from Earth--and thus its apparent size--varies over time. Annular eclipses happen when the moon looks too small to completely cover the sun, an event that occurs about 66 times a century.<br />
<span class="fullpost"> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZNbWzjQCvR1Sdy06bgCV9KqvYGqZpWKlV1wnXn5JXD1WlALeAvvRYxsIcLpUkRnz3GJCILAPv5NyhT3d_6oD9tx14uYZPC_svfMwJEXnkvIiCf-voww2fErh_ShD_AqkkoIIA7Lkaoi0/s1600-h/090126-eclipse-02-461.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZNbWzjQCvR1Sdy06bgCV9KqvYGqZpWKlV1wnXn5JXD1WlALeAvvRYxsIcLpUkRnz3GJCILAPv5NyhT3d_6oD9tx14uYZPC_svfMwJEXnkvIiCf-voww2fErh_ShD_AqkkoIIA7Lkaoi0/s200/090126-eclipse-02-461.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295923925214382066" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 196px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>A sequence of photos shows the moon passing between Earth and the sun before, during, and after an annular eclipse, as seen on January 26, 2009, from Bandar Lampung in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia" target="_blank">Indonesia</a>. <br /><br />The path of the full annular eclipse crossed mostly open ocean in the southern part of the globe, starting about 560 miles (900 kilometers) south of Africa and not reaching land until it crossed Australia's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocos_(Keeling)_Islands" target="_blank">Cocos (Keeling) Islands</a> in the Indian Ocean. <br /><br />Still, observers in southern Africa, Madagascar, Australia, and Southeast Asia were able to watch a partial eclipse.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mRR6FUriwQB62e5IlZ2_OTnoMkiYIFD2m9QhI3bRYTJqdRG1JmyPa8V1IUaidl3WQ-l8trJGeJX8N4Q-7VLXla4AVzVgEt94Tnkdvi9yOSkytTMd7-rWREPbxCqqW4Hlo_76HMbGX98/s1600-h/090126-eclipse-03-461.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mRR6FUriwQB62e5IlZ2_OTnoMkiYIFD2m9QhI3bRYTJqdRG1JmyPa8V1IUaidl3WQ-l8trJGeJX8N4Q-7VLXla4AVzVgEt94Tnkdvi9yOSkytTMd7-rWREPbxCqqW4Hlo_76HMbGX98/s200/090126-eclipse-03-461.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295924984193045058" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 146px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>Astronomer Jay Pasachoff used a specially equipped camera to capture images of the January 26, 2009, annular eclipse from the Indonesian island of Java. <br /><br />Pasachoff, chair of the International Astronomical Union's working group on eclipses, has received funding from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration to study the sun during the total solar eclipse on July 22, 2009. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.) </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />"There is little scientific research that can be done at annular eclipses, unlike the situation with total solar eclipses, when otherwise invisible parts of the sun come into view," Pasachoff told National Geographic News in an email. <br /><br />But annular eclipses can be important, he added, for practicing photography techniques and for getting the public excited about astronomy.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fILcs6CUxTM6JNQU2fK52u-kH1Yw5EIAQMnaIQT_DHCGtHEjUewkDEXnpOYL-3mI-InjxdgCFkMPVSoT8DP6rSd14c0A9PvPFP4bqWkrihS7qtMPDvx9iyirbJldGvxCwKrx2O2wCsY/s1600-h/090126-eclipse-04-461.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fILcs6CUxTM6JNQU2fK52u-kH1Yw5EIAQMnaIQT_DHCGtHEjUewkDEXnpOYL-3mI-InjxdgCFkMPVSoT8DP6rSd14c0A9PvPFP4bqWkrihS7qtMPDvx9iyirbJldGvxCwKrx2O2wCsY/s200/090126-eclipse-04-461.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295926417728894530" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 146px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>Haze blurs the bright ring around an annular eclipse on January 26, 2009.<br /><br />The image was captured from Anyer Beach on the Indonesian island of Java, one of the few places where the solar eclipse was completely visible. <br /><br />Crowds gathered across Indonesia to witness the event, some cheering and banging drums as the moon seemed to cross the face of the sun, the Associated Press reported. <br /><br />"I'm old, but I still think this is magical," resident Roanna Makmur, 66, told the AP. "Anyone who passed up this opportunity really missed out."<br /></span>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-58539668944086765052009-01-27T00:54:00.000-08:002014-02-23T21:30:28.433-08:00Heat to Become Major Threat by Century's End<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg184h2VVMXtAy1CjlYMyS1cZEQ-eEATpVu0wr0BSrngR7P92nhfqQUVJDysq42SjiemsRYYyYkINQwyu31qieGaDmzWfvIzBFuHZV-9-F9WOCTqh2uvVcv7aJ1d-3VUmqKLWbrJZTCJQY/s1600-h/nrm.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg184h2VVMXtAy1CjlYMyS1cZEQ-eEATpVu0wr0BSrngR7P92nhfqQUVJDysq42SjiemsRYYyYkINQwyu31qieGaDmzWfvIzBFuHZV-9-F9WOCTqh2uvVcv7aJ1d-3VUmqKLWbrJZTCJQY/s200/nrm.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295895169131157554" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 155px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
Emily Sohn, Discovery News<br />
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Jan. 21, 2009 -- By the end of the century, the hottest temperatures in recent history will become typical, and the world's food supply will be in deep trouble as a result. <br />
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Those grim predictions come from a new study that looked at heat waves of the past as well as climate projections for the future to paint a frightening picture of what's to come: severe food shortages and rising malnutrition, especially in places where people are already poor and hungry. <br />
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"The changes are so big and in the wrong direction in places where it really matters," said agricultural economist David Bittisti, of the University of Washington, Seattle. He led the study, which appeared recently in the journal Science.<br />
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Battisti urges immediate reductions in fossil fuel emissions and agricultural preparations for a warmer world. <br />
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"If we don't adapt, we will have really serious problems," he told Discovery News. "People will need to either migrate or die."<br />
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Battisti and colleagues used 23 global climate models to forecast average growing season temperatures through the end of the century. All the models agreed: With our current rate of greenhouse gas emissions, there is a greater than 90 percent chance that by 2100, summers in the tropics and subtropics will be hotter than the hottest summers recorded between 1900 and 2006. <br />
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In temperate regions, last century's most extreme summers will be the norm. <br />
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To predict how such temperature changes might affect crop growth, the scientists looked at several past examples of extreme heat, including Western Europe's record hot summer of 2003. During that three-month heat wave, some 52,000 people died from heat-related stress, and corn yields dropped by more than 30 percent in Italy and France.<br />
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With time, growers can usually recover from events like these. But if temperatures get excessively hot and stay that way -- and not just locally but everywhere, the situation could be disastrous.<br />
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"We're looking at reductions in crop yield of 20, 30, or 40 percent in some cases," Battisti said. "The fact that this is a global impact all at the same time means that there [will be] no where to turn for food."<br />
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The tropics and subtropics include Africa, central Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Central America, the southern United States, and northern South America. More than 3 billion people live in those regions. One third of them are already malnourished, Battisti said. And the population will only continue to grow. <br />
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"They've given us an early glimpse into territory beyond charted human experience," said geographer Bill Easterling, of Pennsylvania State University in University Park. "We could be up against challenges for which we have no historical experience."<br />
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The study drives home the need to research and develop new agricultural strategies, Easterling added, such as more heat-resistant and drought-resistant crops, and production techniques that consume fewer fossil fuels. <br />
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"What was learned in this study was that we need to act now, not later," Easterling said. "We can't delay."Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-7616505606457500722009-01-27T00:49:00.000-08:002009-01-27T00:53:30.037-08:00Fish Poop Helps Balance Ocean Acidity<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNVZT90k8xwi57r5hyWctVNSXkcFJlo90IdEycpNK0DWSt75vS8V8BpfpSpKdb0_P82_WWYmq6QvUevQaP3l8kZiT0s7ysURj18UJywZ-O-S1fhudS9IjRDpQlASWctga_i8bDK5a8Pxs/s1600-h/ky.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNVZT90k8xwi57r5hyWctVNSXkcFJlo90IdEycpNK0DWSt75vS8V8BpfpSpKdb0_P82_WWYmq6QvUevQaP3l8kZiT0s7ysURj18UJywZ-O-S1fhudS9IjRDpQlASWctga_i8bDK5a8Pxs/s200/ky.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295893966817368754" /></a><br />Associated Press<br />Jan. 15, 2009 -- The ocean's delicate acid balance may be getting help from an unexpected source, fish poop.<br /><br />The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere not only drives global warming, but also raises the amount of CO2 dissolved in ocean water, tending to make it more acid, potentially a threat to sea life.<br /><br />Alkaline chemicals like calcium carbonate can help balance this acid. Scientists had thought the main source for this balancing chemical was the shells of marine plankton, but they were puzzled by the higher-than-expected amounts of carbonate in the top levels of the water.<br /><br />Now researchers led by Rod W. Wilson of the University of Exeter in England report in the journal Science that marine fish contribute between 3 percent and 15 percent of total carbonate.<br /><br />And the contribution may be even higher than that, say the researchers from the U.S., Canada and England.<br /><br />They report that bony fish, a group that includes 90 percent of marine species, produce carbonate to dispose of the excess calcium they ingest in seawater. This forms into calcium carbonate crystals in the gut and the fish then simply excrete these "gut rocks."<br /><br />The process is separate from digestion and production of feces, according to the researchers.<br /><br />The team estimated the total mass of bony fish in the ocean at between 812 million tons and 2,050 million tons, which they said could produce around 110 million tons of calcium carbonate per year.<br /><br />The carbonate produced by fish is soluble and dissolves in the upper sea water, while that from the plankton sinks to the bottom, the team noted.<br /><br />The research was funded by the U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, The Royal Society, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, United Nations Environmental Program, the Pew Charitable Trust and the U.K. Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-31068163312334344872009-01-27T00:40:00.000-08:002009-01-27T00:46:25.135-08:00Earth's Magnetic Field Changes Climate<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOYwqX7NOjSuWxpZiUehQmIgOqLPaw6dqQ1p2u3hBM8bvAv5fGpLbMpzNNx1u6m5fGKIZhuPFdkVStP5wOzJaCzrmPnVZOUF_5lvf0zTNgLNL4hdzvWTg2J_vGDHO9bMzPQIBQk80fkC8/s1600-h/erth.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 147px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOYwqX7NOjSuWxpZiUehQmIgOqLPaw6dqQ1p2u3hBM8bvAv5fGpLbMpzNNx1u6m5fGKIZhuPFdkVStP5wOzJaCzrmPnVZOUF_5lvf0zTNgLNL4hdzvWTg2J_vGDHO9bMzPQIBQk80fkC8/s200/erth.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295892143915620354" /></a><br />AFP<br />Jan. 13, 2009 -- The Earth's climate has been significantly affected by the planet's magnetic field, according to a Danish study published Monday that is unlikely to challenge the notion that human emissions are largely responsible for global warming.<br /><br />"Our results show a strong correlation between the strength of the Earth's magnetic field and the amount of precipitation in the tropics," one of the two Danish geophysicists behind the study, Mads Faurschou Knudsen of the geology department at Aarhus University in western Denmark, told the Videnskab journal.<br /><br />He and his colleague Peter Riisager, of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), compared a reconstruction of the prehistoric magnetic field 5,000 years ago based on data drawn from stalagmites and stalactites found in China and Oman.<br /><br />The results of the study, which has also been published in scientific journal Geology, lend support to a controversial theory published a decade ago by Danish astrophysicist Henrik Svensmark, who claimed the climate was highly influenced by galactic cosmic ray (GCR) particles penetrating the Earth's atmosphere.<br /><br />Svensmark's theory, which pitted him against today's mainstream theorists who claim carbon dioxide (CO2) is responsible for global warming, involved a link between the earth's magnetic field and climate, since that field helps regulate the number of GCR particles that reach the earth's atmosphere.<br /><br />"The only way we can explain the (geomagnetic-climate) connection is through the exact same physical mechanisms that were present in Henrik Svensmark's theory," Knudsen said.<br /><br />"If changes in the magnetic field, which occur independently of the Earth's climate, can be linked to changes in precipitation, then it can only be explained through the magnetic field's blocking of the cosmetic rays," he said.<br /><br />The two scientists acknowledged that CO2 plays an important role in the changing climate, "but the climate is an incredibly complex system, and it is unlikely we have a full overview over which factors play a part and how important each is in a given circumstance," Riisager told Videnskab.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-78776907392762325382009-01-27T00:30:00.000-08:002009-01-27T00:40:11.281-08:00Great Lakes Facing Wide Alien Species Invasion<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FfUJDrjHJuFvdMt0b66BHS6ZbRPnJFpWMBIdWiC0gyMRJl6Bz09bvjyPPnsMGYoE14sxA50IaaygrSKtnTpl_XMgCRWkxyaYOE9JmJx2nMlSd0T5myLzZEpjNufuBy_iBo52URYRDpc/s1600-h/msv.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 145px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FfUJDrjHJuFvdMt0b66BHS6ZbRPnJFpWMBIdWiC0gyMRJl6Bz09bvjyPPnsMGYoE14sxA50IaaygrSKtnTpl_XMgCRWkxyaYOE9JmJx2nMlSd0T5myLzZEpjNufuBy_iBo52URYRDpc/s200/msv.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295890508943321282" /></a><br />John Flesher, Associated Press<br />Jan. 8, 2009 -- Dozens of foreign species could spread across the Great Lakes in coming years despite policies designed to keep them out, causing significant environmental and economic damage, a federal report says.<br /><br />The National Center for Environmental Assessment issued the warning in a study released this week. It identified 30 nonnative species that pose a medium or high risk of reaching the lakes and 28 others that already have a foothold and could disperse widely.<br /><br />Among the fish that scientists fear could cause ecological and environmental damage are the monkey goby, the blueback herring and the tench, also known as the "doctor fish."<br /><br />The report described some of the region's busiest ports as strong potential targets for invaders, including Toledo, Ohio; Gary, Ind.; Duluth, Minn.; Superior, Wis.; Chicago and Milwaukee.<br /><br />"These findings support the need for detection and monitoring efforts at those ports believed to be at greatest risk," the report said.<br /><br />Exotic species are one of the biggest ecological threats to the nation's largest surface freshwater system. At least 185 are known to have a presence in the Great Lakes, although the report says just 13 have done extensive harm to the aquatic environment and the regional economy.<br /><br />Perhaps the most notorious are the fish-killing sea lamprey and the zebra mussel, which has clogged intake pipes of power plants, industrial facilities and public water systems, forcing them to spend hundreds of millions on cleanup and repairs.<br /><br />Roughly two-thirds of the new arrivals since 1960 are believed to have hitched a ride to the lakes inside ballast tanks of cargo ships from overseas ports.<br /><br />For nearly two decades, U.S. and Canadian agencies have required oceangoing freighters to exchange their fresh ballast water with salty ocean water before entering the Great Lakes system. Both nations also recently have ordered them to rinse empty tanks with seawater in hopes of killing organisms lurking in residual pools on the bottom.<br /><br />Despite such measures, "it is likely that nonindigenous species will continue to arrive in the Great Lakes," said the report by the national center, which is part of the Environmental Protection Agency.<br /><br />Some saltwater-tolerant species may survive ballast water exchange and tank flushing, it said. And aquatic invaders could find other pathways to the lakes -- perhaps escaping from fish farms or being released from aquariums.<br /><br />The report does not predict which species might get through. Instead, it urges government resource managers to monitor waters under their jurisdiction in hopes of spotting attacks in time to choke them off.<br /><br />"Early detection is crucial," said Vic Serveiss, a scientist with the National Center for Environmental Assessment and the report's primary writer.<br /><br />Hugh MacIsaac, a University of Windsor biologist and director of the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network, said he expected very few invaders to reach the Great Lakes in ballast water now that both nations are requiring tank flushing at sea. Flushing and ballast water exchange should kill 99 percent of organisms, he said.<br /><br />"I would be very surprised if their prediction comes true," he said, referring to the EPA report's suggestion that numerous invaders could reach the lakes despite the new ballast rules.<br /><br />The report reinforces the need for further measures to keep foreign species out, including requiring onboard technology to sterilize ballast tanks, said Jennifer Nalbone, invasive species director for the advocacy group Great Lakes United.<br /><br />"We are only beginning to invest the tremendous amount of resources needed," Nalbone said. "We're being hammered by invasive species and are still woefully behind."Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-62419775800008502042008-12-21T19:23:00.000-08:002008-12-21T19:36:41.096-08:00More Than 1,000 New Species Found in Mekong<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iT6npnBGBaDMBp2UJPVJ2ebXNi_PPv6IBOz-jUOSK7_ORiU3K_ZuT8HeryOo27uvChWMaEQIytrM2XL3v4LqtEP7sDdleUfOf3ExqVnuJrlTQJ6sgP5xOdk8JULnIfB3mSCPheKLEMw/s1600-h/luwng.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 151px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iT6npnBGBaDMBp2UJPVJ2ebXNi_PPv6IBOz-jUOSK7_ORiU3K_ZuT8HeryOo27uvChWMaEQIytrM2XL3v4LqtEP7sDdleUfOf3ExqVnuJrlTQJ6sgP5xOdk8JULnIfB3mSCPheKLEMw/s200/luwng.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282450913862546962" /></a><br />AFP<br />Dec. 15, 2008 -- Scientists have discovered more than 1,000 species in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region in the past decade, including a spider as big as a dinner plate, the World Wildlife Fund said Monday.<br /><br />A rat thought to have become extinct 11 million years ago and a cyanide-laced, shocking pink millipede were among creatures found in what the group called a "biological treasure trove."<br /><br />The species were all found in the rainforests and wetlands along the Mekong River, which flows through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.<br /><br />"It doesn't get any better than this," Stuart Chapman, director of World Wildlife Fund: Greater Mekong PrgroamWWF's Greater Mekong Program, was quoted as saying in a statement by the group.<br /><br />"We thought discoveries of this scale were confined to the history books."<br /><br />The WWF report, "First Contact in the Greater Mekong", said that "between 1997 and 2007, at least 1,068 have been officially described by science as being newly discovered species."<br /><br />These included the world's largest huntsman spider, with a leg span of 30 centimeters (11.8 inches), and the "startlingly" colored "dragon millipede," which produces the deadly compound cyanide.<br /><br />Not all species were found hiding in remote jungles -- the Laotian rock rat, which the study said was thought to be extinct about 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market in 2005, it said.<br /><br />One species of pitviper was first noted by scientists after it was found in the rafters of a restaurant at the headquarters of Thailand's Khao Yai national park in 2001.<br /><br />"This region is like what I read about as a child in the stories of Charles Darwin," said Dr Thomas Ziegler, curator at the Cologne Zoo, who was involved in the research.<br /><br />"It is a great feeling being in an unexplored area and to document its biodiversity for the first time both enigmatic and beautiful," he said.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4BVTuw02lHii4PlTQ7QSYqrX65Nfe8WaocJgjpF6FumJh37W5HW3ROoPmXhGNi9YhXcNLclxKYzEh_OrWDv625V8OMbu3qbJthO0cyHo8Q44kV4-F0c5OUtZO56jYmro_E_y53VdiXAQ/s1600-h/grwal.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4BVTuw02lHii4PlTQ7QSYqrX65Nfe8WaocJgjpF6FumJh37W5HW3ROoPmXhGNi9YhXcNLclxKYzEh_OrWDv625V8OMbu3qbJthO0cyHo8Q44kV4-F0c5OUtZO56jYmro_E_y53VdiXAQ/s200/grwal.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282453102282755554" /></a><br />The new species highlighted in the report include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, four birds, four turtles, two salamanders and a toad -- an average of two previously undiscovered species a week for the past 10 years.<br /><br />The report warned, however, that many of the species could be at risk from development, and called for a cross-border agreement between the countries in the Greater Mekong area to protect it.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-4605912673949544272008-12-21T19:16:00.000-08:002008-12-21T19:19:24.728-08:00New Fan-Like Coral Found in Deep Sea<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKN1cdRSVnEfhfbFTJDVSMof1wo1CjRFQF2RVS-BlCkMJGC7VlPHqFJhlEkWGy5YLmmifq1F_APvNdRoxyhN10cD4aXdf9gPanDOto7FSQlw7dMyLovcAllNJ-tf2fSlGqxeDCxmbsoWY/s1600-h/coral.bmp"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKN1cdRSVnEfhfbFTJDVSMof1wo1CjRFQF2RVS-BlCkMJGC7VlPHqFJhlEkWGy5YLmmifq1F_APvNdRoxyhN10cD4aXdf9gPanDOto7FSQlw7dMyLovcAllNJ-tf2fSlGqxeDCxmbsoWY/s200/coral.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282448799276293266" /></a><br />Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News<br />Dec. 1, 2008 -- A spectacular new species of coral has been discovered thriving in veritable forests on the peaks of undersea mountains off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. The large candelabra or fan-like "bamboo corals" have been spotted by marine scientists growing to heights in excess of a meter. They are so abundant they create oases for numerous other deep sea creatures.<br /><br />"They look really, really big when you're underwater," said marine biologist Peter Etnoyer of Texas A & M University. Etnoyer is also the coauthor of the Deep Sea News blog which appears on the Discovery News Web site.<br /><br />Etnoyer and his colleagues discovered the corals at depths of 700 to 1,000 meters in the famous Alvin submersible. A paper officially describing the new species as well as giving it an official scientific name will appear in the late December issue of the journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.<br /><br />Bits and pieces of the mysterious bamboo corals had been seen for years, brought up in the nets of trawlers, Etnoyer said. But none of these fragments hinted at the size, beauty and importance of the corals and for other life at such depths.<br /><br />"Bamboo corals have remarkable scientific utility," says coral researcher Tom Shirley of Texas A & M's Harte Research Institute. "Their growth rings are imprinted with carbon isotopes that allow us to unravel their growth history." Cross-sections exhibit growth rings that indicate some colonies can be 150 years old and more.<br /><br />Deep sea fans like the bamboo coral are animals that feed on suspended organic material that floats by. Unlike better-known hard corals, deep sea corals live in pitch-black, cold waters. The new deep sea species also has very unusual and impressive skirt of long tentacles on its trunk that billow in the current. It's a feature that can only be seen and appreciated by looking at the living organism, as they could with Alvin, Etnoyer explained.<br /><br />The deep sea corals were also clearly providing cover and solid foothold for fish, crabs and other animals -- essentially a shelter -- in the otherwise mucky, largely deserted expanses of deep ocean floor.<br /><br />"They provide a lot of shelter, food and breeding grounds," said deep sea coral researcher Di Tracey of New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. That makes them important for fisheries, since deep sea fish can't thrive without places to breed.<br /><br />Deep sea corals of the same genus Isidella appear off the coast of New Zealand as well, Tracey said. That's one reason why marine biologists are meeting there on Dec. 5 for the Fourth International Deep Sea Coral Symposium.<br /><br />"We have a lot of deep sea corals in the world that haven't been described," Tracey said. "We've known about them since the 18th century, but they've been sort of out of sight, out of mind."<br /><br />Now with the help of technological advances like the Alvin and remotely controlled submersible vehicles, these unusual creatures can finally be given the scientific attention they deserve, she said.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-1375000191238835502008-12-21T19:07:00.000-08:002008-12-21T19:10:36.701-08:00View to a Krill: Secrets of Plankton Eyes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJ3aYP1nYGYWVjxTK8585J3HeGxBMlqwI3aAX2dAqEYhnwpKXQ4bee7jH4HodyEulsXdbN8fUvNo44yMyfODszAvMzli1TK_hfKlCfkcueUkvvMwPD9-t7L-IQ6v8t-eVx9ka_0EO2L0/s1600-h/plnk.bmp"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 147px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJ3aYP1nYGYWVjxTK8585J3HeGxBMlqwI3aAX2dAqEYhnwpKXQ4bee7jH4HodyEulsXdbN8fUvNo44yMyfODszAvMzli1TK_hfKlCfkcueUkvvMwPD9-t7L-IQ6v8t-eVx9ka_0EO2L0/s200/plnk.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282446537092208866" /></a><br />AFP<br />Nov. 19, 2008 -- Biologists on Wednesday explained how the larvae of marine zooplankton can see with just two cells, using what is believed to be the world's simplest vision system. <br /><br />Zooplankton are tiny creatures such as copepods and krill that drift in the ocean's water columns, swimming up from the depths towards the light in order to graze on marine plants called phytoplankton near the surface. <br /><br />This movement, called phototaxis, is the biggest biomass displacement in the world. <br /><br />In a study published by the British-based journal Nature, European scientists looked at the larvae of the marine ragworm Platyneris dumerilii to try to explain how plankton are able to do the phototaxis trick.<br /><br />The larva has just two eye cells, consisting of a pigment cell and a light-sensitive cell, say the investigators. <br /><br />The cells are unable to form images but enable the plankton to sense the difference between light and dark and send appropriate signals to its swimming mechanism, say the investigators. <br /><br />First, the pigment cell absorbs light and casts a shadow over the photoreceptor cell. The shape of the shadow varies according to the position of the light source. <br /><br />The photoreceptor cell then converts this light signal into electricity, sending it in a signal along a nerve that connects to a band of cells endowed with thin hairs, called cilia, that beat to displace water. <br /><br />The basic but effective system could explain how the very first eyes in evolution may have worked, say the team from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the Max Planck Institute. <br /><br />"For a long time, nobody knew how the animals do phototaxis with their simple eyes and nervous system," said EMBL's Detlev Arendt. <br /><br />"We assume that the first eyes in the animal kingdom evolved for exactly this purpose. Understanding phototaxis thus unravels the first steps of eye evolution."Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-82929242550239440062008-12-21T18:55:00.000-08:002008-12-21T19:03:45.535-08:00Plankton Found in 100-Million-Year-Old Amber<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvoezCvbujVD1sTj8abgjscbvbTi67xtR4c6t-Z90euT9IjoUMJTQxX-4ivmA9W6Lk4qckpNR6C9Xs81g8wxcB33X7iBQep1zO99fEOMsCzmK_AXG0uAxgpvB6Cw1RBHuCCkE8tfMKHZI/s1600-h/diatom.bmp"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 145px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvoezCvbujVD1sTj8abgjscbvbTi67xtR4c6t-Z90euT9IjoUMJTQxX-4ivmA9W6Lk4qckpNR6C9Xs81g8wxcB33X7iBQep1zO99fEOMsCzmK_AXG0uAxgpvB6Cw1RBHuCCkE8tfMKHZI/s200/diatom.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282444619000100162" /></a><br />AFP<br />Nov. 17, 2008 -- Scientists have discovered for the first time a menagerie of perfectly intact marine microorganisms trapped in tree resin at least 100 million years ago, according to a new study.<br /><br />The unexpected find in the Charente region of southwestern France pushes back by at least 20 million years the period when a type of single-cell algae called diatoms are known to have appeared on Earth, said the study.<br /><br />It also creates a mystery: how did sea creatures wind up trapped in a glob of resinated amber that oozes out of trees?<br /><br />The most likely scenario, the scientists concluded, is that the forest producing the amber was very near the coast, and that the tiny organisms -- which also included primitive plankton -- were either carried inland by strong winds or flood waters during a storm.<br /><br />"This discovery will deepen our understanding of these lost marine species as well as providing precious data about the coastal environment of western France during the Cretaceous Period," which spanned from 145 to 65 million years ago, the researchers said in a statement.<br /><br />It also challenges certain theories about the evolution of these organisms, and vindicates the research of molecular geneticists, said Jean-Paul Saint Martin, a scientist at the National History Museum in Paris and a co-author of the study.<br /><br />Using "molecular clocks," biochemists move backward in time to figure out at what point in the evolutionary process certain plant and animal species split off into different branches.<br /><br />"We had no record of these microorganisms over a period of 20 million years. These fossils have filled that void in the most extraordinary manner," Saint Martin told AFP.<br /><br />The study, carried out in collaboration with the National Center for Scientific Research in Strasbourg, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-27540052691707842352008-12-21T18:24:00.000-08:002008-12-21T18:54:00.334-08:00Elusive Microbe Fertilizes Oceans, they do all the work!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5CDkkFPBSk1pMUgQMatjVQEeaIWH6kkvl07ALWVj3UZMZIQwYnLs3Gxl8e1ewDhiZPJWTnH67tv4VZ1QXsTLr25TRlHsPBb93TMGPh8wBjqNzHKXPLLMy7-yAdAZRWKD_nKhLCrNiMo/s1600-h/Sunset%2520VI.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5CDkkFPBSk1pMUgQMatjVQEeaIWH6kkvl07ALWVj3UZMZIQwYnLs3Gxl8e1ewDhiZPJWTnH67tv4VZ1QXsTLr25TRlHsPBb93TMGPh8wBjqNzHKXPLLMy7-yAdAZRWKD_nKhLCrNiMo/s200/Sunset%2520VI.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282441184754294002" /></a><br />Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News<br />Nov. 14, 2008 -- After a long search researchers think they have found a cryptic microbe that helps fertilize ocean waters worldwide. Or at least they have found the single-celled critter's very telling and surprising genome. <br /><br />The actual microbe -- a type of bacteria known as cyanobacteria -- has so far eluded direct observation, although perhaps not for much longer. <br /><br />"This is a microscopic organism that I've been chasing for 10 years now," said researcher Jonathan Zehr of the University of California at Santa Cruz. "We couldn't culture it (in a laboratory) and couldn't see it." He is the lead author of a paper on the discovery featured in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal Science. <br /><br />Hints of the mysterious organism have been popping up all over the world in DNA analysis of sea water, said Zehr. Those hints indicated that there was some small organism which was rigged to grab nitrogen from the air and feed the microscopic plants -- called phytoplankton -- that form the base of the ocean food chain. This makes it a rather important player in the oceans.<br /><br />"In order to pull down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, we need phytoplankton," explained Woods Hole marine scientist Anton Post. And in order for sun-loving phytoplankton to grow, they need a host of nutrients -- just like land plants. "More often than not, nitrogen is the limiting nutrient." <br /><br />Tracking down a widespread organism that gets nitrogen into the ocean food web has implications for global warming, which is driven by excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. <br /><br />By applying a powerful suite of new technologies to the task, Zehr and his colleagues were finally able to nail down the size and color of the organism and map out its genome. What they found was a shock.<br /><br />"The first thing that surprised us is that this turned out to be a small cell," Zehr said. It also lacked photosynthetic plant pigments or any of the genes for being a photosynthetic plant. That means it had to make a living from other living things. <br /><br />The discovery is remarkable because the only other nitrogen-fixing organisms found in the ocean also perform photosynthesis -- which creates the oxygen we breathe. The two processes are tricky to accomplish side-by-side because the molecular equipment used to grab nitrogen is destroyed by oxygen. <br /><br />"Some cyanobacteria get around this by just fixing nitrogen at night, when there is less oxygen" because photosynthesis is not happening in the dark, Zehr said. <br /><br />The newfound organism can fix nitrogen during the day, however, and it lacks genes for living like a plant, he said. So it's either a weird relict organism from the early days of life on Earth, before photosynthesis evolved -- or it lost the genes for living like a plant in favor of some other arrangement. <br /><br />"One of our hypotheses is that it's living in symbiosis with some other organism," Zehr said. But that other organism, too, has proven elusive. <br /><br />Fortunately, now that they have clues to the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria's lifestyle, it might be finally possible to grow it in a lab and then really study it in detail, Zehr explained.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-32777021800931483192008-11-05T06:36:00.000-08:002008-11-13T20:28:20.375-08:00Zombied!Zombied Snail<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bT774hw8YxU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bT774hw8YxU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucochloridium_paradoxum" target="new">Leucochloridium paradoxum</a> are a parasitic flatworm that prey on birds.<br />The worms begin their lives as eggs in bird droppings, and are consumed by snails along vegetation floors. Once consumed, the worms infect the snail's brains, take control of their mind, then "hypnotize" them into climbing just high enough to become bird food - where the cycle repeats.<br /><br />Zombied Crickets<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwnqsbuVbZruFJKmKYsyun_gqIMbXjryR6zvY7M-Os_Twzj0NooG6DaZDF78A1BirDR7lbu1YYEYm2rbCngKA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematomorpha" target="new">Gordian worm</a> live inside crickets for long periods, feeding on the cricket's diet. Once fully grown, they inject chemicals into the cricket's brain "brainwashing" it and forcing it to kill itself by jumping into the water. Once in water, the worm wriggles out of the writhing body and swims off in search of a mate.<br /><br />Zombied Ants<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Uot7K6aM7gQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Uot7K6aM7gQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_AttenboroughSir" target="new">David Attenborough</a> speaks on the amazing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps" target="new">Cordyceps fungus</a> that infect insects in the jungle. Each fungus attacks only one species of insect, first by altering their behavior and then bursts from their bodies to grow and eventually produce another generation of highly infective spores.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-62141292320584405292008-11-01T11:01:00.000-07:002008-11-01T11:16:28.648-07:00Electric Eel Cells Inspire Energy Source<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_AWOvCpnUdFP85SzFkbzNYnBeU8P7ChhA9FJd3gEvJEt4Q15PhXRCfi_-GdGuSLkm2yszp7bPnxCyhZ759WY92Z77F8U44XGQjSNQEKq4xVfL2ms3T0DIcWsDfsDVDCSo1dwfFb7NZI/s1600-h/electric-eel-324x205.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_AWOvCpnUdFP85SzFkbzNYnBeU8P7ChhA9FJd3gEvJEt4Q15PhXRCfi_-GdGuSLkm2yszp7bPnxCyhZ759WY92Z77F8U44XGQjSNQEKq4xVfL2ms3T0DIcWsDfsDVDCSo1dwfFb7NZI/s200/electric-eel-324x205.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263754613767936626" /></a><br />Eric Bland, Discovery News<br/><br />Oct. 21, 2008 -- The same cells electric eels use to shock predators and prey can be engineered to power implanted <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomedical_engineering" target="new">biomedical devices</a> , say researchers from Yale University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).<br />"We now understand how the natural electric eel cells work," said David LaVan of NIST. "Now we can think about how we can use those cells to power medical devices."<br/><br />Natural <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_eel" target="new">electric eel</a> cells generate and release electric pulses of more than 500 volts with eight different channels and pumps.<br />By pumping positively charged potassium and sodium ions out of the cell, the number of negatively charged ions inside the cells rises. Opening certain channels causes electrons to flood out of the cell, producing enough electricity to stun the eel's victim.<br />Using computer models, the scientists experimented with different combinations of those eight pumps and channels. A cell with four pumps and channels was easier to make but only about four percent as efficient at converting sugar to electricity.<br/><br />Surprisingly, by eliminating one pump (an "evolutionary leftover," as LaVan calls it) and adjusting the ratio of the other pumps and channels, the scientists designed a cell that was both powerful and energy efficient.<br/><br />"It's like having a Ferrari that is also the most fuel-efficient car in the world," said LaVan. Natural electric eel cells are about 14 percent efficient at converting sugar into electricity, compared to 19 percent for the engineered cells.<br/><br />The pumps and channels are powered by the same fuel that drives every human cell: adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. Stripping off one phosphate group drives cellular activities and in the process turns ATP into adenosine diphosphate, or ADP. Sugar helps recycle ADP back into ATP.<br />Scientists would divert the sugar naturally produced in the body into the implanted electrical generator. Each individual cell would produce an estimate 150 millivolts.<br />Lining up those cells and sandwiching them between an insulting material, a four-millimeter cube could produce three volts of electricity, enough to power a retinal implants, for example. A typical TV remote battery produces about 1.5 volts.<br />Sugar is plentiful. Sunlight is even more plentiful. Eventually, the researchers want to use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis" target="new">photosynthesis</a> , the process plants use to turn sunlight into sugar, instead of using the body's own supply.<br />"Those pieces [that plants use for photosynthesis] exist, but we will have to sit down and rework them," said LaVan. "That's still an open question."<br />Another open question is whether these cells can actually be built; so far the powerful and efficient cellular powerhouses are only present in virtual reality.<br />Actually creating them can be done in two ways, said Atul Parikh, a scientist at the University of California, Davis.<br />One way is top-down -- essentially breeding live electric eels, harvesting their cells, and reconfiguring them to power implanted devices.<br />The other way is to engineer the cells from the bottom up, growing them into a designed configuration. The bottom-up method will likely be harder, but it would produce power more efficiently, said Parikh.<br />However the cells are created, Parikh said they could be used not only to power biomedical devices, but also energy outside the body.<br />"This could be a new way to make <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_module" target="new">solar panels</a> more efficient or bring us closer to a hydrogen economy," he said.<br />Basic prototypes could be developed within a couple of years, and an actual device could be implanted in as little as five years, if everything goes smoothly.<br />"The practical implications of this are huge," said Parikh. "The notion of biobatteries is very real."Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-27266998774425898882008-11-01T09:51:00.000-07:002008-11-01T10:08:50.873-07:00Electricity Found on Saturn Moon--Could It Spark Life?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nH2zwufaE9PscM4h9OJJOX_7YEgz_CtzJYe2dQ0tDSpB3e-95h96wdg-LIBQbsbFNOi0lOYvP5aly_hctUv6MFgywI5rWQaB4nVzlM9nVUOLtJ4nh3LgVTGLynHVIrIFADMAdecTbr8/s1600-h/081028-titan-lightning-life_170.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nH2zwufaE9PscM4h9OJJOX_7YEgz_CtzJYe2dQ0tDSpB3e-95h96wdg-LIBQbsbFNOi0lOYvP5aly_hctUv6MFgywI5rWQaB4nVzlM9nVUOLtJ4nh3LgVTGLynHVIrIFADMAdecTbr8/s200/081028-titan-lightning-life_170.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263733841094901874" /></a><br />Rebecca Carroll<br />for National Geographic News<br />October 28, 2008<br/><br />Recently identified electrical activity on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn" target="new">Saturn's</a> largest moon bolsters arguments that Titan is the kind of place that could harbor life.<br/><br /><br />At a brisk -350 degrees Fahrenheit (-180 Celsius), Titan is currently much too cold to host anything close to life as we know it, scientists say<br />But a new study reports faint signs of a natural electric field in Titan's thick cloud cover that are similar to the energy radiated by lightning on Earth.<br /><br />Lightning is thought to have sparked the chemical reactions that led to the origin of life on our planet.<br /><br />"As of now, lightning activity has not been observed in Titan's atmosphere," said lead author Juan Antonio Morente of the University of Granada in Spain.<br /><br />But, he said, the signals that have been detected "are an irrefutable proof for the existence of electric activity."<br /><br />Frozen, Prebiotic Casserole<br /><br />Morente's team studied data returned from the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which broke away from NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2005 to become the first probe to go below Titan's clouds. (Read "Voyage to Saturn" in National Geographic magazine.)<br /><br />As soon as the probe entered the moon's atmosphere, a strong wind tilted the device about 30 degrees.<br /><br />This accidental motion enabled Huygens to detect the Earthlike electrical resonances that it otherwise would have missed, which Morente and colleagues describe their study, published in a recent issue of the journal Icarus.<br /><br />Jeffrey Bada, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, believes the process that allowed lightning to spark life on Earth is universal and could happen in many environments—including on Titan.<br /><br />Confirmation earlier this year of Titan's hydrocarbon lakes makes the Saturnian moon the first place other than Earth where open bodies of liquid have been found.<br /><br />Hydrocarbons are organic molecules, and the fact that they exist in large quantities on Titan suggests that life could take root there under the right conditions.<br /><br />"If you had lightning taking place in the atmosphere of Titan, you could make what we call precursor molecules," said Bada, who was not involved with Morente's study.<br /><br />"To go any further than that," he said, "you need liquid water."<br /><br />Titan's water is currently frozen into chunks as hard as granite. If those ice "rocks" were to melt, however, the environment could become more hospitable to the building blocks of life.<br /><br />With liquid water, the planet could host the formation of amino acids and then full proteins, which drive all biochemistry and set the stage for more complex molecules.<br /><br />"I look at Titan as a big, frozen, prebiotic casserole," Bada said, referring to the state before the emergence of life.<br /><br />"The idea that life could be widespread in the universe, I think, is very credible."<br /><br />A Field of Its Own<br /><br />Advocates of theories about life on Titan note that various celestial events could temporarily warm up the moon enough to melt its ice into water.<br /><br />Perhaps this happened in the past, they say—or it could happen in the future.<br /><br />But study author Morente said it's impossible to precisely assess such possibilities with the scientific knowledge available today.<br /><br />What astronomers do know is that Titan does not have its own magnetic field, he said. The moon instead orbits within Saturn's magnetosphere at differing distances from the planet.<br /><br />This means that the strength of Titan's magnetic field is constantly changing, leaving its surface more vulnerable to damaging cosmic rays.<br /><br />Without stable protection from radiation, Morente said, "the existence of life is very unlikely."Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-89934394496930696052008-10-30T22:20:00.000-07:002008-10-31T08:52:32.131-07:00Doomsday Seed Vault Debuts in Arctic<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgRF-wJDQ8gVhtkqaN4rQj8ILBhNAwE7Q0OkwM3x48XOeiGLMft8ZruNsyWZF_tpwqJLlislfKAn46uCIDsXa6aTOdolFsnDl2p06FyXr5vL_8Xnmbnh9m2udXvIfb0q-ccBdQ_2P_2s/s1600-h/ewwv.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgRF-wJDQ8gVhtkqaN4rQj8ILBhNAwE7Q0OkwM3x48XOeiGLMft8ZruNsyWZF_tpwqJLlislfKAn46uCIDsXa6aTOdolFsnDl2p06FyXr5vL_8Xnmbnh9m2udXvIfb0q-ccBdQ_2P_2s/s200/ewwv.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263185365242706146" /></a><br />Doug Mellgren, Associated Press<br /><br />Feb. 26, 2008 -- A "doomsday" seed vault built to protect millions of food crops from climate change, wars and natural disasters opened Tuesday deep within an Arctic mountain in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.<br/><br />"The The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is our insurance policy," Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told delegates at the opening ceremony. "It is the Noah's Ark for securing biological diversity for future generations."<br/><br />European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai of Kenya were among the dozens of guests who had bundled up for the ceremony inside the vault, about 425 feet deep inside a frozen mountain.<br/><br />"This is a frozen Garden of Eden," Barroso said.<br/><br />The vault will serve as a backup for hundreds of other seed banks worldwide. It has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed samples from around the world and shield them from man-made and natural disasters.<br/><br />Dug into the permafrost of the mountain, it has been built to withstand an earthquake or a nuclear strike.<br />Norway owns the vault in Svalbard, a frigid archipelago about 620 miles from the North Pole.<br/><br />It paid $9.1 million for construction, which took less than a year. Other countries can deposit seeds without charge and reserve the right to withdraw them upon need.<br/><br />The operation is funded by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which was founded by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and Biodiversity International, a Rome-based research group.<br/><br />"Crop diversity will soon prove to be our most potent and indispensable resource for addressing climate change, water and energy supply constraints, and for meeting the food needs of a growing population," said Cary Fowler, head of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.<br/><br />Svalbard is cold, but giant air conditioning units have chilled the vault further to -0.4 Fahrenheit, a temperature at which experts say many seeds could last for 1,000 years.<br/><br />Stoltenberg and Maathai delivered the first box of seeds to the vault during the opening ceremony--a container of rice seeds from 104 countries.<br/><br />"This is unique. This is very visionary. It is a precaution for the future," Maathai, a Crop Diversity Trust board member, told The Associated Press after the ceremony.<br/><br />The seeds are packed in silvery foil containers--as many as 500 in each sample--and placed on blue and orange metal shelves inside three 32-foot-by-88-foot storage chambers. Each vault can hold 1.5 million sample packages of all types of crop seeds, from carrots to wheat.<br/><br />Construction leader Magnus Bredeli-Tveiten said the vault is designed to withstand earthquakes--successfully tested by a 6.2-magnitude temblor off Svalbard last week--and even a direct nuclear strike.<br/><br />Many other seed banks are in less protected areas. For example, war wiped out seed banks in Iraq and Afghanistan, and one in the Philippines was flooded in the wake of a typhoon in 2006.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-57783224618962846132008-10-29T23:11:00.000-07:002008-10-29T23:28:05.183-07:00Mysterious Crater Widens to Antarctica<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vuaoOyl4h7fYdz9MS5-6C7ij90zASc-CFXmW2KJlTYKGs6vspiS_9bwZA8J0-NaaUSk4rGqkiYG3Z6AcCSpfD8_w2B3rMdkzmFV_OYvSBLNo3WUG8el5L7tQby31j5UuaqVow-f6O3g/s1600-h/ewwwkh.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vuaoOyl4h7fYdz9MS5-6C7ij90zASc-CFXmW2KJlTYKGs6vspiS_9bwZA8J0-NaaUSk4rGqkiYG3Z6AcCSpfD8_w2B3rMdkzmFV_OYvSBLNo3WUG8el5L7tQby31j5UuaqVow-f6O3g/s200/ewwwkh.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262827762770773842" /></a><br /><p>Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News</p><p>March 31, 2008 -- A new report of tiny beads of meteor impact glass strewn high in Antarctica's Transantarctic Mountains may expand a debris field to a tenth of Earth's surface -- despite no sign of the crater which spewed out the molten rock 800,000 years ago.<br /></p><br />The accidental discovery of the glass "microtektites" in the high mountains of Antarctica extends what's called the Australasian tektite strewn field south by nearly 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers).<br /><br />The microtektites were found while a team of researchers were searching the exposed rocks atop the Transantarctic Frontier Mountain for more pieces of an unrelated meteorite that disintegrated in the skies there long ago.<br /><br />"The gradiometer kept on beeping at every fracture of the granitic bedrock surface," recalled Italian researcher Luigi Folco of the Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide, Università di Siena and the Italian Programma Nazionale delle Ricerche in Antartide.<br /><br />A magnetic gradiometer detects minute changes in magnetic fields caused by rocks containing magnetic minerals. The most likely cause for the beeping was magnetic minerals in volcanic ash from one of the relatively recent volcanoes in the region.<br /><br />"When we get back to the lab, to our great surprise, we found thousands of micrometeorite and cosmic spherules thus explaining the magnetic signal," Folco told Discovery News.<br /><br />But they also found glass spheres 0.5 millimeter in diameter with a pale-yellow color, which is unusual for glassy cosmic spherules, which are the debris of meteors melting in Earth's atmosphere.<br /><p>The chemical composition of the yellow spheres revealed them to be Earth rocks. That meant there was only one likely way they could have been created -- in the heat of an impact, which flung melted rock into space and then rained back down, cooling and solidifying into spheres while in free fall.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwAnaJ7GmC1EyoECjQ3FMnYcYDAMroFSCUErXp5A7_HmJMl4jCp2OzIv2rfE4LkBvd7rE34-aSF7dcx2FbWTaoAv2lHnw6p7j_NS3elgnQ7uOQS51o1Jun-btlAyTXWIGJ6an5_5PGaUM/s1600-h/ewwwzh.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 147px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwAnaJ7GmC1EyoECjQ3FMnYcYDAMroFSCUErXp5A7_HmJMl4jCp2OzIv2rfE4LkBvd7rE34-aSF7dcx2FbWTaoAv2lHnw6p7j_NS3elgnQ7uOQS51o1Jun-btlAyTXWIGJ6an5_5PGaUM/s200/ewwwzh.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262829505593931538" /></a><br /><br />The discovery was written up and reported in the April issue of the journal Geology.<br /><br />The analysis of the microtektites revealed they are similar enough in appearance, composition and age to represent the edges of the Australasian strewnfield, said Folco. That strewnfield already had been found to extend from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.<br /><br />"It's a pretty big strewn field," said tektite pioneer and professor emeritus Bill Glass of the University of Delaware.<br /><br />Larger tektites from the impact have been found all over Australia and smaller microtektites have been extracted from the bottom of the Indian Ocean, he told Discovery News. But this is the first good evidence that the debris might have been flung even further, he explained.<br /><br />"You'd think that something that big would be easy to find," said Glass. "It's a real puzzle."<br /><br />The most likely location of the hidden crater is somewhere in Indochina, said Glass. One possibility is that the meteor struck down on what is the sea floor today. But 800,000 years ago, an ice age would have lowered the sea level and exposed the seafloor. Since then it could have been buried by marine sediments.<br /><br /></p>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-20781110064059755562008-10-29T23:05:00.000-07:002008-10-29T23:08:33.450-07:00Snow Packed With Bacteria<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUxYL5BwqvEhdfGEC5H_lJ5UpzWGKUGqtdnBIBN6yX-6ad4BCgFm5Ern8GtqstmjWVFYq46aWVgx_hZqIH-J9AaLvS2McYmfxRtzz0t26OXhveBHvHcK729QMUVcR_90M5UzQVd5n3CI/s1600-h/ewwh1.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUxYL5BwqvEhdfGEC5H_lJ5UpzWGKUGqtdnBIBN6yX-6ad4BCgFm5Ern8GtqstmjWVFYq46aWVgx_hZqIH-J9AaLvS2McYmfxRtzz0t26OXhveBHvHcK729QMUVcR_90M5UzQVd5n3CI/s200/ewwh1.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262824898171813202" /></a><br /><p>Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press</p><p>Feb. 28, 2008 -- Those beautiful snowflakes drifting out of the sky may have a surprise inside--bacteria.<br /></p><br />Most snow and rain forms in chilly conditions high in the sky and atmospheric scientists have long known that, under most conditions, the moisture needs something to cling to in order to condense.<br /><br />Now, a new study shows a surprisingly large share of those so-called nucleators turn out to be bacteria that can affect plants.<br /><br />"Bacteria are by far the most active ice nuclei in nature," said Brent C. Christner, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Louisiana State University.<br /><br />Christner and colleagues sampled snow from Antarctica, France, Montana and the Yukon and they report their findings in Friday's edition of the journal Science.<br /><br />In some samples as much as 85 percent of the nuclei were bacteria, Christner said in a telephone interview. The bacteria were most common in France, followed by Montana and the Yukon, and was even present to a lesser degree in Antarctica.<br /><br />The most common bacteria found was Pseudomonas syringae, which can cause disease in several types of plants including tomatoes and beans.<br /><br />The study found it in 20 samples of snow from around the world and subsequent research has also found it in summer rainfall in Louisiana.<br /><br />The focus on Pseudomonas in the past has been to try and eliminate it, Christner said, but now that it turns out to be a major factor in encouraging snow and rain, he wonders if that is a good idea. Would elimination of this bacteria result in less rain or snow, or would it be replaced by other nuclei such as soot and dust?<br /><br />"The question is, are they a good guy or a bad guy," he said, "and I don't have the answer to that."<br /><br />What is clear is that Pseudomonas is effective at getting moisture in a cloud to condense, he pointed out. Killed bacteria are even used as an additive in snow making at ski resorts.<br /><br />Which raises the question, Christner said, of whether planting crops known to be infected by Pseudomonas in areas experiencing drought might help increase precipitation there by adding more nuclei to the atmosphere.<br /><br />It has been known that microbes and insects and algae blow around in the atmosphere, Christner added, "but the atmosphere has not been recognized as a place where things are active. That has been changing in the last decade. In a cloud you've got water, organic carbon," everything necessary to support a microorganism.<br /><br />Virginia K. Walker, a biologist at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, said other researchers have found bacteria serving as snow nuclei, but had not identified it as Pseudomonas.<br /><br />"It's one of those great bacteria ... you can find them anywhere," said Walker, who was not part of the research team. "They are really interesting."<br /><br />Charles Knight, a cloud physics expert at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., wasn't surprised by the finding, however.<br /><br />At relatively warm temperatures of just a few degrees below freezing, bacteria are "remarkably effective" at attracting ice formation, said Knight, who also was not part of the research group.<br /><br /><p>The study was supported by a Louisiana State University research grant.</p><p>In a second paper published online by Science, researchers report that the amount of dust blown into the tropical Pacific over the last half-million years has varied widely between warm and cold periods.<br /><br />Dust also has important impacts on weather and climate ranging from serving as nuclei for rain to blocking some incoming radiation from the sun, and it also delivers minerals like iron that increase growth of plankton in ocean areas.<br /><br />Cores of seafloor sediment were taken from locations across the tropical Pacific covering a period of 500,000 years.<br /><br />Researchers led by Gisela Winckler of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University found that dust deposited in the ocean peaked during cold periods and was less during warm periods. Using isotopes, the scientists traced the dust on the western side to Asia and that on the eastern side to South America.<br /><br />They say the reasons for the change are complex but in general it tends to be windier in cold periods meaning more dust gets blown around.<br /><br />They found that cold peaks occurred about every 100,000 years, with the last one at 20,000 years ago.<br /><br />The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.<br /><br /></p>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-47677315099959008422008-10-29T22:45:00.000-07:002008-10-29T23:03:56.591-07:00Utah Crater Mystery Cracked<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3b4X38OHjYmjcR4Ck9dBWRbJju3B-G15cqmCw5Nl2F2KMem_KvjJzc7YkKcdtFQQd4jyZn-lNe8RUU20JskyKplOjixyBbJovzRbV0-cGyPb_jdPXAUkg3Dj7pD3xxuJGV0cUSq184j4/s1600-h/upheaval-dome-324x205.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3b4X38OHjYmjcR4Ck9dBWRbJju3B-G15cqmCw5Nl2F2KMem_KvjJzc7YkKcdtFQQd4jyZn-lNe8RUU20JskyKplOjixyBbJovzRbV0-cGyPb_jdPXAUkg3Dj7pD3xxuJGV0cUSq184j4/s200/upheaval-dome-324x205.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262819513803270194" /></a><br /><p>Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News</p><p>March 11, 2008 -- One of the longest-running mysteries in the U.S. National Parks has been solved: The crater-like Upheaval Dome in Utah's Canyonlands National Park was caused by a meteor impact, say German researchers. <br /><br />For decades geologists have debated whether the picturesque "Sphinx of Geology," viewed by millions of park visitors, was created by a volcanic outburst, an eruption of salt or a meteor impact. Then a crucial clue was discovered: "shocked quartz," which can be created only by the intense pressures of a violent meteor impact. <br /><br />"This is great news because finally, after so many years of searching, the final clue that Upheaval Dome is an impact structure has been discovered," said impact crater researcher Christian Koeberl of the University of Vienna in Austria. "Their data are convincing."<br /><br />The discovery was made by German researchers Elmar Buchner and Thomas Kenkmann, who published their findings in the March issue of the journal Geology. Surprisingly, the shocked grains of quartz were located not at the center of the crater, but off to one side, suggesting that the meteor struck the Earth at an angle. <br /><br />"Discovery of shock metamorphic features...is a requirement to 'nail' the impact origin of a feature, and they have done it," Koeberl told Discovery News. <br /><br />In the 1930s, Upheaval Dome was interpreted as a volcanic feature by one geologist. Thirty years later, in the 1960s, another geologist proposed that it was the result of ancient sea salts buried under the rock. The salt, less dense than rock, rises up in the ground -- like a drop of oil rising up through water -- and buoys up the rock into a dome. <br /><br />The meteor impact idea wasn't officially taken up by any researchers until the 1980s, and remained inconclusive until now.</p><p></p><p>"The very controversial debate about Upheaval Dome's origin has lasted nearly a century, over the course of which extremely different hypotheses (gradualism versus catastrophism) have been proposed," report Buchner and Kenkmann. <br /><br />The debate has, in fact, reflected a historical divide of ideas in geology over those decades. <br /><br />On one hand there were the "gradualists" who adhered to the idea that just about everything we see on the planet today is the result of gradual processes still at work -- glaciers moving, rains falling, rivers flowing, etc. Gradualism was considered heretical when it was proposed by James Hutton in the late 18th century because it implies the Earth was tremendously older than some Biblical scholars had claimed. <br /><br />These Biblical scholars cited such catastrophes as Noah's flood to explain such geological oddities as marine fossils atop mountains. These early "catastrophists" tended to ignore evidence that went against their Biblical interpretation of the geological record. In other words, they weren't very scientific. <br /><br />As a result, geologists are trained to tread very carefully wherever extraordinary events are being called on to explain geological features. The trouble is, of course, there are some things like Upheaval Dome, which are, as we now know, genuine creations of extraordinary -- albeit non-Biblical -- catastrophic events.<br /><br /><br /></p>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-6964798211791335782008-10-29T22:36:00.000-07:002008-10-29T22:42:40.806-07:00Giant Starfish, Lilly Fields Found in Antarctic Waters<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxP1tOW56K_8vwMQl-4U9TbEk4YUBaAtlEpi3xVlVS4d7MEP1A5Oai4vZ44Ag1a1yFXBXrPlTAGDNGupcwKHZiEZdXauFm6dUMcDpJiCVng-mRoTBcphgbzpLxEzONkmHyp8z0PKimnkk/s1600-h/starfish-324x205.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxP1tOW56K_8vwMQl-4U9TbEk4YUBaAtlEpi3xVlVS4d7MEP1A5Oai4vZ44Ag1a1yFXBXrPlTAGDNGupcwKHZiEZdXauFm6dUMcDpJiCVng-mRoTBcphgbzpLxEzONkmHyp8z0PKimnkk/s200/starfish-324x205.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262818205188468258" /></a><br /><p>Ray Lilley, Associated Press</p><p>March 21, 2008 -- Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish.<br /><br />A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks.<br /><br />It's "exciting when you come across a new species," said Chris Jones, a fisheries scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "All the fish people go nuts about that -- but you have to take it with a grain of salt."<br /><br />The finds must still be reviewed by experts to determine if they are in fact new, said Stu Hanchet, a fisheries scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.<br /><br />But beyond the discovery of new species, scientists said the survey, the most comprehensive to date in the Ross Sea, turned up other surprises.<br /><br />Hanchet singled out the discovery of "fields" of sea lilies that stretched for hundreds of yards across the ocean floor.<br /><br />"Some of these big meadows of sea lilies I don't think anybody has seen before," Hanchet said.<br />Previously only small-scale scientific samplings have been staged in the Ross Sea.<br /><br />The survey was part of the International Polar Year program involving 23 countries in 11 voyages to survey marine life and habitats around Antarctica. The program hopes to set benchmarks for determining the effects of global warming on Antarctica, researchers said.<br /><br />Large sea spiders, jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles, huge sea snails and starfish the size of big food platters were found during a 50-day voyage, marine scientist Don Robertson said.<br /><br />Cold temperatures, a small number of predators, high levels of oxygen in the sea water and even longevity could explain the size of some specimens, said Robertson, a scientist with NIWA.<br /><br />Robertson added that of the 30,000 specimens collected, hundreds might turn out to be new species.<br /><br />Stefano Schiaparelli, a mollusk specialist at Italy's National Antarctic Museum in Genoa, said he thought the find would yield at least eight new mollusks.<br /><br />"This is a new brick in the wall of Antarctic knowledge," Schiaparelli said.<br /></p>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-27003617120485337442008-10-27T20:25:00.000-07:002008-10-27T20:48:24.520-07:00Strange Creatures Found in Antarctic Waters<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGN5xvecm_CUKSn-lLteir3yBtTwo61YyMUHmM3fU35M8NImHu65rcCAGtPlr55v2HLOha9e19-lFMOv6w6qK6Yt8YRJBdnAu47aa7QjbevCS-9qBk8C9eCZqdy6UfcSNUtL8DjHdTTg4/s1600-h/ewwz1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGN5xvecm_CUKSn-lLteir3yBtTwo61YyMUHmM3fU35M8NImHu65rcCAGtPlr55v2HLOha9e19-lFMOv6w6qK6Yt8YRJBdnAu47aa7QjbevCS-9qBk8C9eCZqdy6UfcSNUtL8DjHdTTg4/s200/ewwz1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262045579437231698" /></a><br /><p><em>Associated Press</em></p><p>Feb. 20, 2008 -- Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths.<br /></p><br />Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected specimens from up to 6,500 feet beneath the surface, and said many may never have been seen before.<br /><br />Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand.<br /><br /><p>"Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters," Martin Riddle, the Australian Antarctic Division scientist who led the expedition, said in a statement. "We have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates."</p><p>The French and Japanese ships sought specimens from the mid- and upper-level environment, while the Australian ship plumbed deeper waters with remote-controlled cameras.<br /><br />"In some places every inch of the sea floor is covered in life," Riddle said. "In other places we can see deep scars and gouges where icebergs scour the sea floor as they pass by."<br /><br />Among the bizarre-looking creatures the scientists spotted were tunicates, plankton-eating animals that resemble slender glass structures up to a yard tall "standing in fields like poppies," Riddle said.<br /><br />Other animals were equally baffling.<br /><br />"They had fins in various places, they had funny dangly bits around their mouths," Riddle told reporters. "They were all bottom dwellers so they were all evolved in different ways to live down on the sea bed in the dark. So many of them had very large eyes -- very strange looking fish."<br /><br />Scientists are planning a follow-up expedition in 10 to 15 years to examine the effects of climate changes on the region's environment.<br /><br /></p><br />The specimens were being sent to universities and museums around the world for identification, tissue sampling and DNA studies.<br /><br />"Not all of the creatures that we found could be identified and it is very likely that some new species will be recorded as a result of these voyages," said Graham Hosie, head of the census project.<br /><br />The expedition is part of an ambitious international effort to map life forms in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, and to study the impact of forces such as climate change on the undersea environment.<br /><br />Three ships -- Aurora Australis from Australia, France's L'Astrolabe and Japan's Umitaka Maru -- returned recently from two months in the region as part of the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census. The work is part of a larger project to map the biodiversity of the world's oceans.Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-80759519124606445932008-10-27T19:13:00.001-07:002008-10-27T20:24:01.501-07:00News Flash: Universe Still a Mystery<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurK-M5hoKYEFPgt3SdVvsnl_wcf8Q1ky_k8M3Ejx0Bu9-mxGTWzVKyaYQHKvcO5VrmpzQbzQJD8EaGTX_-qGztc_64jeCtqRfREQOdRWFaWDS5HmPvEv-OqTanilGo_g1HWoTpk-kuFY/s1600-h/eww2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurK-M5hoKYEFPgt3SdVvsnl_wcf8Q1ky_k8M3Ejx0Bu9-mxGTWzVKyaYQHKvcO5VrmpzQbzQJD8EaGTX_-qGztc_64jeCtqRfREQOdRWFaWDS5HmPvEv-OqTanilGo_g1HWoTpk-kuFY/s200/eww2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262040305151850242" /></a><br /><em>Seth Borentstein, Associated Press</em><p>Jan. 11, 2008 -- The deeper astronomers gaze into the cosmos, the more they find it's a bizarre and violent universe. The research findings from this week's annual meeting of U.S. astronomers range from blue orphaned baby stars to menacing "rogue" black holes that roam our galaxy.<br /></p>"It's an odd universe we live in," said Vanderbilt University astronomer Kelly Holley-Bockelmann. She presented her theory on rogue black holes at the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Austin, Texas, earlier this week.<br /><br />It should be noted that she's not worried, and you shouldn't be either. The odds of one of these black holes swallowing up Earth or the sun or wreaking other havoc is somewhere around 1 in 10 quadrillion in any given year.<br /><br />"This is the glory of the universe," added J. Craig Wheeler, president of the astronomy association. "What is odd and what is normal is changing."<br /><br />Just five years ago, astronomers were gazing at a few thousand galaxies where stars formed in a bizarre and violent manner. Now the number is in the millions, thanks to more powerful telescopes and supercomputers to crunch the crucial numbers streaming in from space, said Wheeler, a University of Texas astronomer.<br /><br />Scientists are finding that not only are they improving their understanding of the basic questions of the universe -- such as how did it all start and where is it all going -- they also keep stumbling upon unexpected, hard-to-explain cosmic quirks and the potential, but comfortably distant, dangers.<br /><br />Much of what they keep finding plays out like a stellar version of a violent Quentin Tarantino movie. The violence surrounds and approaches Earth, even though our planet is safe and "in a pretty quiet neighborhood," said Wheeler, author of the book "Cosmic Catastrophes."<br /><br /><p>One example is an approaching gas cloud discussed at the meeting Friday. The cloud has a mass 1 million times that of the sun. It is 47 quadrillion miles away. But it's heading toward our Milky Way galaxy at 150 miles per second. And when it hits, there will be fireworks that form new stars and "really light up the neighborhood," said astronomer Jay Lockman at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia.</p><p>But don't worry. It will hit a part of the Milky Way far from Earth and the biggest collision will be 40 million years in the future.<br /><br />The giant cloud has been known for more than 40 years, but only now have scientists realized how fast it's moving. So fast, Lockman said, that "we can see it sort of plowing up a wave of galactic material in front of it."<br /><br />When astronomers this week unveiled a giant map of mysterious dark matter in a super-cluster of galaxies, they explained that the violence of the cramped-together galaxies is so great that there is now an accepted vocabulary for various types of cosmic brutal behavior.<br /><br />The gravitational force between the clashing galaxies can cause "slow strangulation," in which crucial gas is gradually removed from the victim galaxy. "Stripping" is a more violent process in which the larger galaxy rips gas from the smaller one. And then there's "harassment," which is a quick fly-by encounter, said astronomer Meghan Gray of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.<br /><br />Gray's presentation essentially showed the victims of galaxy-on-galaxy violence. She and her colleagues are trying to figure out the how the dirty deeds were done.<br /><br />In the past few days, scientists have unveiled plenty to ooh and aah over:<br /><br /><br />Photos of "blue blobs" that astronomers figure are orphaned baby stars. They're called orphans because they were "born in the middle of nowhere" instead of within gas clouds, said Catholic University of America astronomer Duilia F. de Mello.<br /><br />*A strange quadruplet of four hugging stars, which may eventually help astronomers understand better how stars form. <br /><br />*A young star surrounded by dust, that may eventually become a planet. It's nicknamed "the moth," because the interaction of star and dust are shaped like one. <br /><br />*A spiral galaxy with two pairs of arms spinning in opposite directions, like a double pinwheel. It defies what astronomers believe should happen. It is akin to one of those spinning-armed flamingo lawn ornaments, said astronomer Gene Byrd of the University of Alabama. <br /><br />*The equivalent of post-menopausal stars giving unlikely birth to new planets. Most planets form soon after a sun, but astronomers found two older stars, one at least 400 million years old, with new planets. <br /><br /><br />"Intellectually and spiritually, if I can use that word with a lower case 's,' it's awe-inspiring," Wheeler said. "It's a great universe."<br /><br /></p>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1673421575430381557.post-50409002468369039362008-09-02T02:46:00.000-07:002008-10-30T22:09:28.396-07:00Why this blog?<p>Welcome Guests!, This blog I made For those who dislikes monotones or such stay things and tends to keep exploring the world up untill the last breath, here I intend to share you any information that I think worthed to us to know but mostly based on new invention and solved mystery. I hope you can shared yours also then it means here we can share informations one another and together we grow know what the world and life is. Let's reveal the remain unexplored side of this world because we've been made by God to comments all of It's Work!</p><p>Nothing is impossible for a willing heart even less together! ;)</p>Excelsiorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970728825998430118noreply@blogger.com1