From Current.com
Scientist John Singleton insists that Albert Einstein wouldn't be mad at him, even though at first blush Singleton appears to have twisted the famous physicist's theories about light into a pretzel.
Most people think Einstein said that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, but that's not really the case, Singleton said.
Einstein predicted that particles and information can't travel faster than the speed of light — but phenomenon like radio waves? That's a different story, said Singleton, a Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow.
Singleton has created a gadget that abuses radio waves so severely that they finally give in and travel faster than light.
The polarization synchrotron combines the waves with a rapidly spinning magnetic field, and the result could explain why pulsars — which are super-dense spinning stars that are a subclass of neutron stars — emit such powerful signals, a phenomenon that has baffled many scientists, Singleton said.
"Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit radio waves in pulses, but what we don't know is why these pulses are so bright or why they travel such long distances," Singleton said. "What we think is these are transmitting the same way our machine does."
And beyond explaining what has been a bit of a mystery to the astronomical community, Singleton's discovery could have wide-ranging technological impacts in areas such as medicine and communications, he said.
"Because nobody's really thought about things that travel faster than light before, this is a wide-open technological field," Singleton said.
One possible use for the resulting speedy radio waves — which are packed into a very powerful wave the size of a pencil point — could be the creation of a new generation of cell phones that communicate directly to satellites, rather than transmitting through relay towers as they now do.
Those phones would have more reliable service and would also be more difficult for hackers to intercept, Singleton said.
Another application could be in very targeted chemotherapy, where a patient takes the drugs, and the radio waves are used to activate them very specifically in the area around a tumor, he said.
If Einstein were still alive, he probably wouldn't be all that surprised by the discovery, Perez said, even if it does seem on the surface to conflict with some of his theories.
"He might have thought, 'why did this take so long,' " Perez said.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Scientists come a step closer towards building quantum computer
From: littleabout.com
A team led by Yale University researchers has created the first rudimentary solid-state quantum processor, taking another step toward the ultimate dream of building a quantum computer.
They also used the two-qubit superconducting chip to successfully run elementary algorithms, such as a simple search, demonstrating quantum information processing with a solid-state device for the first time.
Our processor can perform only a few very simple quantum tasks, which have been demonstrated before with single nuclei, atoms and photons, said Robert Schoelkopf, the William A. Norton Professor of Applied Physics and Physics at Yale.
But this is the first time theyve been possible in an all-electronic device that looks and feels much more like a regular microprocessor, he added.
Working with a group of theoretical physicists led by Steven Girvin, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, the team manufactured two artificial atoms, or qubits (quantum bits).
While each qubit is actually made up of a billion aluminum atoms, it acts like a single atom that can occupy two different energy states.
These states are akin to the 1 and 0 or on and off states of regular bits employed by conventional computers.
Because of the counterintuitive laws of quantum mechanics, however, scientists can effectively place qubits in a superposition of multiple states at the same time, allowing for greater information storage and processing power.
These sorts of computations, though simple, have not been possible using solid-state qubits until now in part because scientists could not get the qubits to last long enough.
While the first qubits of a decade ago were able to maintain specific quantum states for about a nanosecond, Schoelkopf and his team are now able to maintain theirs for a microseconda thousand times longer, which is enough to run the simple algorithms.
To perform their operations, the qubits communicate with one another using a quantum busphotons that transmit information through wires connecting the qubitspreviously developed by the Yale group.
The key that made the two-qubit processor possible was getting the qubits to switch on and off abruptly, so that they exchanged information quickly and only when the researchers wanted them to, said Leonardo DiCarlo, a postdoctoral associate in applied physics at Yales School of Engineering and Applied Science and lead author of the research paper.
Next, the team will work to connect more qubits to the quantum bus.
The processing power increases exponentially with each qubit added, so the potential for more advanced quantum computing is enormous, Schoelkopf said.
A team led by Yale University researchers has created the first rudimentary solid-state quantum processor, taking another step toward the ultimate dream of building a quantum computer.
They also used the two-qubit superconducting chip to successfully run elementary algorithms, such as a simple search, demonstrating quantum information processing with a solid-state device for the first time.
Our processor can perform only a few very simple quantum tasks, which have been demonstrated before with single nuclei, atoms and photons, said Robert Schoelkopf, the William A. Norton Professor of Applied Physics and Physics at Yale.
But this is the first time theyve been possible in an all-electronic device that looks and feels much more like a regular microprocessor, he added.
Working with a group of theoretical physicists led by Steven Girvin, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, the team manufactured two artificial atoms, or qubits (quantum bits).
While each qubit is actually made up of a billion aluminum atoms, it acts like a single atom that can occupy two different energy states.
These states are akin to the 1 and 0 or on and off states of regular bits employed by conventional computers.
Because of the counterintuitive laws of quantum mechanics, however, scientists can effectively place qubits in a superposition of multiple states at the same time, allowing for greater information storage and processing power.
These sorts of computations, though simple, have not been possible using solid-state qubits until now in part because scientists could not get the qubits to last long enough.
While the first qubits of a decade ago were able to maintain specific quantum states for about a nanosecond, Schoelkopf and his team are now able to maintain theirs for a microseconda thousand times longer, which is enough to run the simple algorithms.
To perform their operations, the qubits communicate with one another using a quantum busphotons that transmit information through wires connecting the qubitspreviously developed by the Yale group.
The key that made the two-qubit processor possible was getting the qubits to switch on and off abruptly, so that they exchanged information quickly and only when the researchers wanted them to, said Leonardo DiCarlo, a postdoctoral associate in applied physics at Yales School of Engineering and Applied Science and lead author of the research paper.
Next, the team will work to connect more qubits to the quantum bus.
The processing power increases exponentially with each qubit added, so the potential for more advanced quantum computing is enormous, Schoelkopf said.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Woman illegally downloads 24 songs, fined to tune of $1.9 million
By Elianne Friend
CNN
A federal jury Thursday found a 32-year-old Minnesota woman guilty of illegally downloading music from the Internet and fined her $80,000 each -- a total of $1.9 million -- for 24 songs.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset's case was the first such copyright infringement case to go to trial in the United States, her attorney said.
Attorney Joe Sibley said that his client was shocked at fine, noting that the price tag on the songs she downloaded was 99 cents.
She plans to appeal, he said.
Cara Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America, said the RIIA was "pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable."
"We appreciate the jury's service and that they take this as seriously as we do," she said.
Thomas-Rasset downloaded work by artists such as No Doubt, Linkin Park, Gloria Estefan and
This was the second trial for Thomas-Rasset. The judge ordered a retrial in 2007 after there was an error in the wording of jury instructions.
The fines jumped considerably from the first trial, which granted just $220,000 to the recording companies.
Thomas-Rasset is married with four children and works for an Indian tribe in Minnesota.
CNN
A federal jury Thursday found a 32-year-old Minnesota woman guilty of illegally downloading music from the Internet and fined her $80,000 each -- a total of $1.9 million -- for 24 songs.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset's case was the first such copyright infringement case to go to trial in the United States, her attorney said.
Attorney Joe Sibley said that his client was shocked at fine, noting that the price tag on the songs she downloaded was 99 cents.
She plans to appeal, he said.
Cara Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America, said the RIIA was "pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable."
"We appreciate the jury's service and that they take this as seriously as we do," she said.
Thomas-Rasset downloaded work by artists such as No Doubt, Linkin Park, Gloria Estefan and
This was the second trial for Thomas-Rasset. The judge ordered a retrial in 2007 after there was an error in the wording of jury instructions.
The fines jumped considerably from the first trial, which granted just $220,000 to the recording companies.
Thomas-Rasset is married with four children and works for an Indian tribe in Minnesota.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Love
What is love? Scientists have delved deep into this mystery of life. They have found that the melding two chemicals, Oxytocin and Vasopressin, within the brain have been linked to long term bonding. They also say that Serotonin plays a major role and that one in love resembles that of a person with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Scientists are definitely not romantics. But even in the scientific community love remains a mystery, one rooted deep in our culture far beyond our written history.
So what is love? A mother holding her newborn for the first time. A father, still in his work clothes, playing catch with his son. That fluttering in your chest as you close your eyes for your first kiss. Two grandparents holding hands as they stroll down the street. Love comes in all forms, sexes, and states. It first strikes as a sickness. Lightheaded, butterflies begin their flapping within your gut, there is nothing like a newborn love. Scientists have found the protein NGF, Nerve Growth Hormone, to be at it’s highest levels when couples first fall in love. They have also found that this protein has also been associated with Alzheimer. Never invite a scientist to give a speech at your wedding. As the love ages, and the protein levels out, love changes and resembles more of a comforter. That warm blanket you know will be there when you come in from the blustering wind.
Love can also be elusive. We search our entire life for love or that which we were taught what love is supposed to be. But love comes to those that love. Like a piggy bank, the more you put into it the more you will get out. Love is also the sun that makes our souls grow. Without love, our branches droop, our being wilts, and we become dead inside. While love warms our soul, we need to toil the land, or relationships, in which it’s roots grow. One can’t just accept love and expect a garden to grow. We must get down, muddy our knees, and not be afraid to get dirt under our fingernails.
For love to last in this garden, one must use some important tools. One is sacrifice. We must be prepared to pull up the weeds that make the “I” for fertile soil that makes the “Us”. Now there is no way to pull out every single weed in this enormous garden and a healthy sense of the individual is a necessity in every relationship, but if the garden gets too overgrown with these weeds, the fruit will never be seen to have a chance to be plucked.
The rays of love is not enough to keep our garden alive. It is our job to keep the garden vibrant with the water of communication, trust, and compassion. Communication will clean the words left unsaid and the superfluous disagreements that linger far too long, Trust will the strengthen the roots even when you are apart, and Compassion will help you feel the weight of your words and the impact they create before the stems snap and break.
Make no mistake creating and maintaining this garden isn’t easy and the work will last your entire life. But with the right tools, the sustenance within will be all that you will need, want, and crave. So work hard, nurture your garden, and most importantly enjoy the fruits of your labor.
So what is love? A mother holding her newborn for the first time. A father, still in his work clothes, playing catch with his son. That fluttering in your chest as you close your eyes for your first kiss. Two grandparents holding hands as they stroll down the street. Love comes in all forms, sexes, and states. It first strikes as a sickness. Lightheaded, butterflies begin their flapping within your gut, there is nothing like a newborn love. Scientists have found the protein NGF, Nerve Growth Hormone, to be at it’s highest levels when couples first fall in love. They have also found that this protein has also been associated with Alzheimer. Never invite a scientist to give a speech at your wedding. As the love ages, and the protein levels out, love changes and resembles more of a comforter. That warm blanket you know will be there when you come in from the blustering wind.
Love can also be elusive. We search our entire life for love or that which we were taught what love is supposed to be. But love comes to those that love. Like a piggy bank, the more you put into it the more you will get out. Love is also the sun that makes our souls grow. Without love, our branches droop, our being wilts, and we become dead inside. While love warms our soul, we need to toil the land, or relationships, in which it’s roots grow. One can’t just accept love and expect a garden to grow. We must get down, muddy our knees, and not be afraid to get dirt under our fingernails.
For love to last in this garden, one must use some important tools. One is sacrifice. We must be prepared to pull up the weeds that make the “I” for fertile soil that makes the “Us”. Now there is no way to pull out every single weed in this enormous garden and a healthy sense of the individual is a necessity in every relationship, but if the garden gets too overgrown with these weeds, the fruit will never be seen to have a chance to be plucked.
The rays of love is not enough to keep our garden alive. It is our job to keep the garden vibrant with the water of communication, trust, and compassion. Communication will clean the words left unsaid and the superfluous disagreements that linger far too long, Trust will the strengthen the roots even when you are apart, and Compassion will help you feel the weight of your words and the impact they create before the stems snap and break.
Make no mistake creating and maintaining this garden isn’t easy and the work will last your entire life. But with the right tools, the sustenance within will be all that you will need, want, and crave. So work hard, nurture your garden, and most importantly enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Sky 'rains tadpoles' over Japan
By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo
From The Telegraph
Residents, officials and scientists have been baffled by the apparent downpour of tadpoles in central Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture.
Clouds of dead tadpoles appear to have fallen from the sky in a series of episodes in a number of cities in the region since the start of the month.
In one incident, a 55-year-old man who was caught in a tadpole downpour described hearing a strange sound in the parking lot of a civic centre in the city of Nanao.
Upon further exploration, he found more than 100 dead tadpoles covering the windshields of cars in an area measuring 10 square metres.
Dead tadpole downpours were also reported by local officials 48 hours later in the city of Hakusan in the same prefecture.
The raining down of small creatures such as frogs and fish is a rare meteorological phenomenon that is reported from time to time across the world.
Scientists have widely attributed the surreal raining of animals to strong winds, storms and water sprouts sucking up creatures before depositing them further inland.
However, this explanation has not satisfied meteorologists in the Ishikawa region.
Officials at Kanazawa Local Meteorological Observatory told local media that they were unsure how the tadpoles had arrived as there had been no reports of strong winds at the time.
Another scientific explanation for raining animals relates to birds carrying the small creatures before dropping them as they fly overland.
However, dismissing this theory, a researcher at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Abiko told Kyodo news: "Crows eat tadpoles but if these were spat out (by the birds), a wider area should have been covered."
From The Telegraph
Residents, officials and scientists have been baffled by the apparent downpour of tadpoles in central Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture.
Clouds of dead tadpoles appear to have fallen from the sky in a series of episodes in a number of cities in the region since the start of the month.
In one incident, a 55-year-old man who was caught in a tadpole downpour described hearing a strange sound in the parking lot of a civic centre in the city of Nanao.
Upon further exploration, he found more than 100 dead tadpoles covering the windshields of cars in an area measuring 10 square metres.
Dead tadpole downpours were also reported by local officials 48 hours later in the city of Hakusan in the same prefecture.
The raining down of small creatures such as frogs and fish is a rare meteorological phenomenon that is reported from time to time across the world.
Scientists have widely attributed the surreal raining of animals to strong winds, storms and water sprouts sucking up creatures before depositing them further inland.
However, this explanation has not satisfied meteorologists in the Ishikawa region.
Officials at Kanazawa Local Meteorological Observatory told local media that they were unsure how the tadpoles had arrived as there had been no reports of strong winds at the time.
Another scientific explanation for raining animals relates to birds carrying the small creatures before dropping them as they fly overland.
However, dismissing this theory, a researcher at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Abiko told Kyodo news: "Crows eat tadpoles but if these were spat out (by the birds), a wider area should have been covered."
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
One-fifth of us have lost sight of Milky Way
by Heather Catchpole
SYDNEY: Light pollution has caused one-fifth of the world's population – mostly in mainland Europe, Britain and the U.S. – to lose their ability to see the Milky Way in the night sky.
"The arc of the Milky Way seen from a truly dark location is part of our planet's natural heritage," said Connie Walker, and astronomer from the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona.
Yet "more than one fifth of the world population, two thirds of the U.S. population and one half of the European Union population have already lost naked eye visibility of the Milky Way."
Star-free night
The phenomenon, caused by the reflection of manmade light by the Earth's atmosphere, impacts astronomical research and can even affect human health, warned Walker, who will present her research on Wednesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California.
The effects of light pollution on human health can be as mild as the disruption of the circadian rhythm leading to problems sleeping, but it can also be serious, she said.
One study of 147 Israeli communities, published in 2008 in the journal Chronobiology International, found some evidence for an increased risk of breast cancer for women living in areas with the most light pollution. This is thought to be due to unnatural light at night affecting levels of hormones such as melatonin and estrogen.
Light pollution comes in a variety of forms such as 'over illumination', 'light trespass' and 'sky glow' – the orange glow that hangs over cities and is produced by upwards directed light.
Walker's research has found that cities using light fixtures that direct just 3% of their light upwards can almost double the sky glow experienced by astronomical observatories 100 km away. "Allowing 10% direct uplight increases this figure to 570%," said Walker, who is chair of the U.S. Dark Skies Working Group, part of the Dark Skies Awareness program, a global citizen science effort to raise awareness of light pollution.
GLOBE at night
"The point of raising awareness of light pollution is that it touches many areas of people's lives, from simply not being able to see the natural heritage of a starry night sky to affecting... the habits of animals, energy consumption, economic resources, and astronomical research," she said.
One project called GLOBE at Night, teaches members of the public "to record the brightness of the night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars," said Walker.
These measurements are then submitted online and are used to create global maps of levels of light pollution. Over the last four years, the annual, two-week long GLOBE at Night events have resulted in 35,000 measurements contributed from over 100 countries.
Data from this project and others allowed Walker to estimate how much of the world's population is still able to see the Milky Way on a clear night.
John Norris, an astronomer from the Australian National University's (ANU) Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories said light pollution was less of an issue in Australia, where cities are widely distributed.
But he said emission lines from the mercury and sodium in fluorescent or sodium streetlights can still create background light interference for astronomers observing at optical wavelengths.
"To get the same quality of data [as from a non light-affected area] I would have to observe longer to be able to subtract the background light pollution from the light of the star," said Norris, who added that astronomers "jealously seek to guard the darkness" of observatories.
"At the Anglo-Australian Observatory and ANU we seek to have agreements with government and local councils. If people want to build something that is going to produce light pollution they have to [first] seek approval and meet certain requirements," he said. "It's a win/win situation because it is more energy efficient to have a downwards-facing lamp rather than lighting up the sky."
SYDNEY: Light pollution has caused one-fifth of the world's population – mostly in mainland Europe, Britain and the U.S. – to lose their ability to see the Milky Way in the night sky.
"The arc of the Milky Way seen from a truly dark location is part of our planet's natural heritage," said Connie Walker, and astronomer from the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona.
Yet "more than one fifth of the world population, two thirds of the U.S. population and one half of the European Union population have already lost naked eye visibility of the Milky Way."
Star-free night
The phenomenon, caused by the reflection of manmade light by the Earth's atmosphere, impacts astronomical research and can even affect human health, warned Walker, who will present her research on Wednesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California.
The effects of light pollution on human health can be as mild as the disruption of the circadian rhythm leading to problems sleeping, but it can also be serious, she said.
One study of 147 Israeli communities, published in 2008 in the journal Chronobiology International, found some evidence for an increased risk of breast cancer for women living in areas with the most light pollution. This is thought to be due to unnatural light at night affecting levels of hormones such as melatonin and estrogen.
Light pollution comes in a variety of forms such as 'over illumination', 'light trespass' and 'sky glow' – the orange glow that hangs over cities and is produced by upwards directed light.
Walker's research has found that cities using light fixtures that direct just 3% of their light upwards can almost double the sky glow experienced by astronomical observatories 100 km away. "Allowing 10% direct uplight increases this figure to 570%," said Walker, who is chair of the U.S. Dark Skies Working Group, part of the Dark Skies Awareness program, a global citizen science effort to raise awareness of light pollution.
GLOBE at night
"The point of raising awareness of light pollution is that it touches many areas of people's lives, from simply not being able to see the natural heritage of a starry night sky to affecting... the habits of animals, energy consumption, economic resources, and astronomical research," she said.
One project called GLOBE at Night, teaches members of the public "to record the brightness of the night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars," said Walker.
These measurements are then submitted online and are used to create global maps of levels of light pollution. Over the last four years, the annual, two-week long GLOBE at Night events have resulted in 35,000 measurements contributed from over 100 countries.
Data from this project and others allowed Walker to estimate how much of the world's population is still able to see the Milky Way on a clear night.
John Norris, an astronomer from the Australian National University's (ANU) Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories said light pollution was less of an issue in Australia, where cities are widely distributed.
But he said emission lines from the mercury and sodium in fluorescent or sodium streetlights can still create background light interference for astronomers observing at optical wavelengths.
"To get the same quality of data [as from a non light-affected area] I would have to observe longer to be able to subtract the background light pollution from the light of the star," said Norris, who added that astronomers "jealously seek to guard the darkness" of observatories.
"At the Anglo-Australian Observatory and ANU we seek to have agreements with government and local councils. If people want to build something that is going to produce light pollution they have to [first] seek approval and meet certain requirements," he said. "It's a win/win situation because it is more energy efficient to have a downwards-facing lamp rather than lighting up the sky."
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
New Hampshire Lake linked to ALS
By KRISTEN SENZ
Sunday News Correspondent
ENFIELD – The risk of developing a fatal neurodegenerative disease is 25 times higher than the norm for people who live around Mascoma Lake, according to researchers studying the possibility of a link between lake bacteria and neurological illness.
Over a recent six-month period, three people residing on the north shore of Mascoma Lake were diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. So far, nine cases of the disease have been confirmed near the lake.
Doctors and scientists at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon say there is strong evidence that suggests cyanobacteria, single-celled organisms that form on lakes and ponds and release harmful toxins, are an environmental trigger for the development of ALS in people who are genetically predisposed to the illness.
"Statistically, if you live near some lakes, there appears to be a higher risk of ALS," said Dartmouth-Hitchcock neurologist Dr. Elijah Stommel.
The national incidence rate of ALS, a disease that attacks the nerve cells that control voluntary movement, is two people per 100,000. Around lakes and ponds with cyanobacteria blooms in New England, that rate increases to 4.5 people per 100,000. At Mascoma Lake, the rate is 50 people per 100,000.
Researchers in New Hampshire have yet to find the specific neurotoxin, known as BMAA (beta Methylamino L-alanine), that is believed to trigger ALS, but it has been found in water bodies with cyanobacteria blooms elsewhere in the world.
"We think we will be able to find the toxin," said Stommel, who is working with other doctors and researchers to collect water and fish samples, and to gather hair and brain tissue from people who have been diagnosed with ALS in Enfield.
People living around other lakes, including Winnisquam Lake in Belknap County and Willand Pond in Somersworth, also recently have been diagnosed with ALS, but the highest concentration of cases in the state has been found at Mascoma Lake.
Cyanobacteria, often referred to as blue-green algae, have survived on Earth for more than 200 million years and contain chlorophyll, which enables photosynthesis. The biological purpose for cyanobacteria blooms and the toxins they release remains unknown, said Dr. Tracie Caller, a resident at Dartmouth-Hitchcock who works with Stommel in studying the potential link to ALS.
"These are the oldest organisms on Earth," Caller said. "They actually are partly responsible for creating our atmosphere."
Dumping of sewage and other pollutants, including yard waste such as grass clippings, is believed to trigger cyanobacteria blooms. Nitrogen and phosphorous, which come from runoff created by development, also are recognized as contributors.
Pollution in Mascoma Lake was at its peak in the 1970s, prior to the passage of the federal Clean Water Act, Caller said, and exposure from that era may be responsible for the recent spike in ALS cases.
"The cases we're seeing now, we think might be related to what was going on 10, 20 or 30 years ago," she said.
Researchers first began studying unexpected pockets of ALS after a high concentration of cases was found in Guam among people who ate a certain type of bat. The bats fed on nuts that contained BMAA, which was found to have caused the disease. Other populations at higher risk for ALS include Italian soccer players and veterans of the first Iraq war, Caller said, but no one knows why.
Cyanobacteria blooms appear as a blue-green or pea-green scum on the surface of lakes, ponds and rivers. They release a variety of harmful toxins, including microcystine, which causes liver cancer and liver failure in humans and animals. Jody Connor, a limnologist with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, said the toxin has caused acute liver failure in dogs and has been responsible for some pet deaths.
"Oftentimes, pets die and nobody knows why, and a lot of times, vets don't know that pets that drink water with cyanobacteria are likely going to get sick," Connor said.
New Hampshire was one of the first states to develop a standard for cyanobacteria testing, as well as a procedure for related beach closures and lake advisories. And the limnology center, which Connor leads, is working to educate lake associations and the public.
Connor said it's important for people to heed the state's warnings, recognize what the blooms look like and know what to do if they see them. If you see scum on a lake's surface, even if it's only in one area, avoid swimming and keep pets out of the water. Take a picture of the bloom or collect a water sample, and call the state's cyanobacteria hotline at 419-9229.
"I carry the phone with me all the time, and I try to answer it seven days a week," he said.
If and when researchers find the tiny BMAA molecule in Mascoma Lake or elsewhere in the state, "I think it would really help us in preventing disease and/or maybe even finding a cure" for ALS, Caller said.
A definitive link could also have a dramatic impact on lakefront property values in New Hampshire.
Stommel and Caller are awaiting lab-test results from water and fish samples collected from Mascoma Lake, Winnisquam Lake, Willand Pond and Webster Lake in Franklin.
"We're hoping to sample as many lakes with blooms as we can get to this summer," Caller said.
Sunday News Correspondent
ENFIELD – The risk of developing a fatal neurodegenerative disease is 25 times higher than the norm for people who live around Mascoma Lake, according to researchers studying the possibility of a link between lake bacteria and neurological illness.
Over a recent six-month period, three people residing on the north shore of Mascoma Lake were diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. So far, nine cases of the disease have been confirmed near the lake.
Doctors and scientists at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon say there is strong evidence that suggests cyanobacteria, single-celled organisms that form on lakes and ponds and release harmful toxins, are an environmental trigger for the development of ALS in people who are genetically predisposed to the illness.
"Statistically, if you live near some lakes, there appears to be a higher risk of ALS," said Dartmouth-Hitchcock neurologist Dr. Elijah Stommel.
The national incidence rate of ALS, a disease that attacks the nerve cells that control voluntary movement, is two people per 100,000. Around lakes and ponds with cyanobacteria blooms in New England, that rate increases to 4.5 people per 100,000. At Mascoma Lake, the rate is 50 people per 100,000.
Researchers in New Hampshire have yet to find the specific neurotoxin, known as BMAA (beta Methylamino L-alanine), that is believed to trigger ALS, but it has been found in water bodies with cyanobacteria blooms elsewhere in the world.
"We think we will be able to find the toxin," said Stommel, who is working with other doctors and researchers to collect water and fish samples, and to gather hair and brain tissue from people who have been diagnosed with ALS in Enfield.
People living around other lakes, including Winnisquam Lake in Belknap County and Willand Pond in Somersworth, also recently have been diagnosed with ALS, but the highest concentration of cases in the state has been found at Mascoma Lake.
Cyanobacteria, often referred to as blue-green algae, have survived on Earth for more than 200 million years and contain chlorophyll, which enables photosynthesis. The biological purpose for cyanobacteria blooms and the toxins they release remains unknown, said Dr. Tracie Caller, a resident at Dartmouth-Hitchcock who works with Stommel in studying the potential link to ALS.
"These are the oldest organisms on Earth," Caller said. "They actually are partly responsible for creating our atmosphere."
Dumping of sewage and other pollutants, including yard waste such as grass clippings, is believed to trigger cyanobacteria blooms. Nitrogen and phosphorous, which come from runoff created by development, also are recognized as contributors.
Pollution in Mascoma Lake was at its peak in the 1970s, prior to the passage of the federal Clean Water Act, Caller said, and exposure from that era may be responsible for the recent spike in ALS cases.
"The cases we're seeing now, we think might be related to what was going on 10, 20 or 30 years ago," she said.
Researchers first began studying unexpected pockets of ALS after a high concentration of cases was found in Guam among people who ate a certain type of bat. The bats fed on nuts that contained BMAA, which was found to have caused the disease. Other populations at higher risk for ALS include Italian soccer players and veterans of the first Iraq war, Caller said, but no one knows why.
Cyanobacteria blooms appear as a blue-green or pea-green scum on the surface of lakes, ponds and rivers. They release a variety of harmful toxins, including microcystine, which causes liver cancer and liver failure in humans and animals. Jody Connor, a limnologist with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, said the toxin has caused acute liver failure in dogs and has been responsible for some pet deaths.
"Oftentimes, pets die and nobody knows why, and a lot of times, vets don't know that pets that drink water with cyanobacteria are likely going to get sick," Connor said.
New Hampshire was one of the first states to develop a standard for cyanobacteria testing, as well as a procedure for related beach closures and lake advisories. And the limnology center, which Connor leads, is working to educate lake associations and the public.
Connor said it's important for people to heed the state's warnings, recognize what the blooms look like and know what to do if they see them. If you see scum on a lake's surface, even if it's only in one area, avoid swimming and keep pets out of the water. Take a picture of the bloom or collect a water sample, and call the state's cyanobacteria hotline at 419-9229.
"I carry the phone with me all the time, and I try to answer it seven days a week," he said.
If and when researchers find the tiny BMAA molecule in Mascoma Lake or elsewhere in the state, "I think it would really help us in preventing disease and/or maybe even finding a cure" for ALS, Caller said.
A definitive link could also have a dramatic impact on lakefront property values in New Hampshire.
Stommel and Caller are awaiting lab-test results from water and fish samples collected from Mascoma Lake, Winnisquam Lake, Willand Pond and Webster Lake in Franklin.
"We're hoping to sample as many lakes with blooms as we can get to this summer," Caller said.
Monday, June 8, 2009
First supernovae blew early galaxies apart
by Heather Catchpole
Cosmos Online
SYDNEY: The universe's first stars blew small galaxies apart when they exploded, effectively quashing all nearby star formation, say Japanese astrophysicists.
The theory, based on analytical calculations of the energy and disruptive effects of early supernovae, adds another piece to the puzzle of what the first stars were like and how they influenced galaxy formation.
The first stars formed around 200 million years after the Big Bang in clumps of dark matter called dark matter haloes – the basic building blocks of galaxies.
Running out of gas
These stars were massive, probably 10 to 100 times bigger than the Sun. Like most massive stars, they would have burnt through their fuel within a few tens of millions of years and then exploded as either a type II supernova or a pair instability supernova.
The study, published in the current issue of the Astrophysical Journal, looks at what happened to the dark haloes near these massive explosions. Previously, experts were divided as to whether the first supernovae kick started star formation in the haloes or suppressed it.
Astrophysicists Masaru Sakuma from the University of Tsukuba, in Tsukuba, and Hajime Susa from Konan University in Kobe, Japan, say their model shows the shockwave from these supernovae would have expanded the gas shell within the stars' own galaxies, creating a gaseous 'wind' that stripped the gas out of nearby dark haloes.
First clues
This 'wind' would have swept the gas from dark haloes within a radius of up to 5,000 light-years around the supernova, depending on the force of the initial explosion and the mass of the dark haloes, the researchers say.
"[If] a neighbouring halo is located very close to the centre of the supernova explosion, the gas in the halo would be evacuated by the shock momentum... supernova feedback has basically negative effects on the star formation in surrounding halos," the researchers write.
Commenting on the research, Australian theoretical astrophysicist Stuart Wyithe, from the University of Melbourne, said the research answered a "little bit" of the big question of how the death of the first stars affected the early universe.
"Early galaxies are analogous to buckets of gas, with the gas confined by gravity rather than by walls. The supernova explosion blows the gas out of the first bucket. This moving gas then acts like a wind which in turn blows the gas out of small nearby galaxies," Wyithe said.
"[The research] doesn't address other issues about how much gas there is in the first place and what happens when there are many haloes [surrounding the supernovae]," he said. But added that the study is "solid piece of work."
"Analytic calculations like these can sometimes give quite good information, and I think in this case it does," said Wyithe. "It's not understood fully what role the first stars played in the reionisation of the early universe. This is a first step on the way to understanding that."
Cosmos Online
SYDNEY: The universe's first stars blew small galaxies apart when they exploded, effectively quashing all nearby star formation, say Japanese astrophysicists.
The theory, based on analytical calculations of the energy and disruptive effects of early supernovae, adds another piece to the puzzle of what the first stars were like and how they influenced galaxy formation.
The first stars formed around 200 million years after the Big Bang in clumps of dark matter called dark matter haloes – the basic building blocks of galaxies.
Running out of gas
These stars were massive, probably 10 to 100 times bigger than the Sun. Like most massive stars, they would have burnt through their fuel within a few tens of millions of years and then exploded as either a type II supernova or a pair instability supernova.
The study, published in the current issue of the Astrophysical Journal, looks at what happened to the dark haloes near these massive explosions. Previously, experts were divided as to whether the first supernovae kick started star formation in the haloes or suppressed it.
Astrophysicists Masaru Sakuma from the University of Tsukuba, in Tsukuba, and Hajime Susa from Konan University in Kobe, Japan, say their model shows the shockwave from these supernovae would have expanded the gas shell within the stars' own galaxies, creating a gaseous 'wind' that stripped the gas out of nearby dark haloes.
First clues
This 'wind' would have swept the gas from dark haloes within a radius of up to 5,000 light-years around the supernova, depending on the force of the initial explosion and the mass of the dark haloes, the researchers say.
"[If] a neighbouring halo is located very close to the centre of the supernova explosion, the gas in the halo would be evacuated by the shock momentum... supernova feedback has basically negative effects on the star formation in surrounding halos," the researchers write.
Commenting on the research, Australian theoretical astrophysicist Stuart Wyithe, from the University of Melbourne, said the research answered a "little bit" of the big question of how the death of the first stars affected the early universe.
"Early galaxies are analogous to buckets of gas, with the gas confined by gravity rather than by walls. The supernova explosion blows the gas out of the first bucket. This moving gas then acts like a wind which in turn blows the gas out of small nearby galaxies," Wyithe said.
"[The research] doesn't address other issues about how much gas there is in the first place and what happens when there are many haloes [surrounding the supernovae]," he said. But added that the study is "solid piece of work."
"Analytic calculations like these can sometimes give quite good information, and I think in this case it does," said Wyithe. "It's not understood fully what role the first stars played in the reionisation of the early universe. This is a first step on the way to understanding that."
Thursday, June 4, 2009
US in nuclear disclosure blunder
From the BBC.com
A document providing confidential details of US civilian nuclear sites was accidentally posted on the internet, the government has admitted.
The 266-page document included the precise location of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons, the Obama administration said.
The Government Printing Office website took down the posting on Tuesday after experts expressed concern.
US officials insisted the information detailed was not a security threat.
The document, which lists itself as "sensitive but unclassified", contains maps and information on hundreds of US civilian nuclear sites.
No military installations are included but the document does cover the nuclear weapons laboratories at Los Alamos, Livermore and Sandia.
Enriched uranium
An internet site of the Federation of American Scientists in Washington had highlighted the document's existence on Sunday, saying it was "a one-stop shop for information on US nuclear programs".
A spokesman for the printing office told the New York Times the document had been gathered "under normal operating procedures" and was removed on Tuesday pending a review.
US analysts said although much of the information was already available to the public, the disclosure, particularly of the location of the fuel stockpiles, was embarrassing for the government.
The Times said the document was collated as part of a US drive to make its civilian nuclear programme more transparent in the hope that other nations, particularly Iran, would follow suit.
It said the most serious disclosure was on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, known as the Fort Knox of highly enriched uranium, the leading fuel for nuclear weapons.
Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, confirmed the material should not have been released.
But he said: "The departments of energy, defence and commerce and the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] all thoroughly reviewed it to ensure that no information of direct national security significance would be compromised."
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Mystery of Giant Ice Circles Resolved
Jeremy Hsu
Staff Writer
livescience.com
Strange circles have once again appeared in the frozen surface of Lake Baikal in Siberia, as spotted by astronauts aboard the International Space Station this April. News reports described the ice rings as a puzzling phenomenon.
But experts say they can explain the mystery, and it's not aliens - methane gas rising from the lake floor represents the likely culprit.
Methane emissions can create a rising mass of warm water that begins swirling in a circular pattern because of the Coriolis force, or the phenomenon caused by the Earth's rotation that also helps create cyclones.
"Once the water mass reaches the underside of the ice on the surface of the lake, the warm water melts the ice in a ring shape," said Marianne Moore, a marine ecologist at Wellesley College in Massachusetts who has spent much time studying Lake Baikal with Russian researchers. The lake is the largest (by volume) and deepest fresh water lake on Earth.
The latest ring patterns included a circle of thin ice with a diameter of 2.7 miles (4.4 km), although the circular patch was becoming a hole of open water. Astronauts spotted similar ice circles in both 1985 and 1994, and satellites have also made sightings over the past years.
This phenomenon is nothing new to the Russian government, which has documented circle sightings on an official Ministry of Natural Resources Web site.
"Interestingly, the government is also warning people that abnormally high emissions of methane may occur in these areas in the summer and fall, posing risks for ships," Moore told LiveScience.
The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources points out that random emissions of natural gas have probably always occurred in Lake Baikal. And such emissions would have created ice rings every few years.
"But, because of the huge size, it is practically impossible to see a ring standing on the ice or even from a mountain," the Ministry Web site notes. The Russian government has ordered daily space monitoring of the Lake Baikal area in recent years, which prompted many of the satellite sightings.
Tectonic activity deep in the Earth may be the trigger for such methane gas release, according to the Russian government.
That could have major consequences for Lake Baikal's rich array of plants and animals, Moore cautioned - especially in combination with a warming climate. Both could lead to spring ice disappearing more rapidly from Lake Baikal, which can typically hold onto an ice cover through June.
"Unlike other lakes in the world, spring ice is essential for the reproduction of the lake's top predator (the Baikal seal) and the dominant plants (under-ice phytoplankton) at the bottom of the food web," Moore said. "Without spring ice, the food web of this lake will be disrupted substantially."
Monday, June 1, 2009
DARK ENERGY - The Chameleon Particle
By TPMCafe.com
Is the 'Chameleon Particle' dark energy...? Bonus news at the bottom.
There is a theory about dark energy that is gaining some traction. Its called the Chameleon Particle theory and it states that maybe dark energy is actually a particle that is hard to find because of its strange properties. When it combines with a photon (light) the combined particle changes its mass depending on its surroundings and makes it hard to find. Hence the monicker.
This is how wiki describes it:
The "chameleon" is a postulated scalar particle with a non-linear self-interaction which gives the particle an effective mass that depends on its environment: the presence of other fields. It would have a small mass in much of intergalactic space, but a large mass in terrestrial experiments, making it difficult to detect. The chameleon is a possible candidate for dark energy and dark matter, and may contribute to cosmic inflation.
Now the theory has some promise:
By comparing light emitted across a range of frequencies from the luminous centres of 77 active galaxies, Douglas Shaw at Queen Mary University of London and his colleagues have found what they call "good evidence" that some photons have gone missing in transit.
If the light is missing, they theorize, then maybe it changed into something else.
By itself, the findings dont show more than an unanswered question but if the theory is true the particle should be detectable. Because they would be able to change their mass, they should get heavier as they try to pass through a special chamber and thus get trapped. Then we could finally "see" them.
Chameleons can be confined in hollow containers because their mass increases rapidly as they penetrate the container wall, causing them to reflect. One strategy to search experimentally for chameleons is to direct photons into a cavity, confining the chameleons produced, and then to switch off the light source. Chameleons would be indicated by the presence of an afterglow as they decay back into photons
So now the first round of lab results are in. How'd it go? Not so good.
While they didn't find a signal in this round of work, the results did put constraints on some of the properties of the evasive particle, including its mass and its coupling to photons.
But the latest observations are reviving hope
...the group's analysis appears to get a boost from an independent study into an unusually high flux of high-energy photons spotted by the MAGIC telescope on La Palma and the VERITAS telescope in Arizona. The results have perplexed astronomers because very high-energy photons should be kept from reaching Earth by interactions with the cosmic microwave background radiation.
Now, they want to run the tests again in light of the latest observations.
The GammeV group is now preparing to test for chameleons in that "interesting range", says Weltman.
Can anybody spare a dime?
Stay Tuned...
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