EXCLUSIVE – Players put the knife in, says disappointed Els

Ernie Els has hit out at players who criticised his redesign of Wentworth’s West Course this week, saying they had “put the knife” into him.

Wentworth owner Richard Caring, who spent 6.5 million pounds ($9.34 million) on the changes, had been “kicked in the teeth” by the players, Els told Reuters in an exclusive interview .

“If they had criticisms they could’ve handled it differently. That’s the sad part of the whole week, a lot of the guys I’ve known for a very long time came out and basically put the knife in and I don’t really appreciate that,” Els said on Sunday.

The redesign left few of the 18 holes untouched and several players at the PGA Championship complained in the media about the changes, especially the new moat and elevated green at the 18th.

“There is going to be criticism with any new design but I really wasn’t expecting the backlash I got,” Els said. “I don’t think anybody deserved it.

“If the people who made all those comments, especially the players, look back at what they said and what they achieved this week, it was all negative,” said Els after finishing well down the field following a closing 72 for 287, three over par.

“The tour doesn’t need it, the club doesn’t need it, the owner who has put all this money in doesn’t need it, I don’t need it.”

Caring acknowledged mistakes had been made with the redesign of the famous West Course and told reporters on Friday that he would take the blame.

“It’s unfortunate he had to come out (and say that),” said Els. “He is the guy who spent 6.5 million pounds on the changes.

“Who on earth is going to spend that money to enhance a golf course on television and make the sponsor happy, make the players happy and then the players kick him in the teeth because they don’t like a couple of holes?

CRITICAL COMMENTS

“For all this money we are playing for (a $5.63-million prize fund) we could be playing down the road…not come in here like a bunch of spoiled golfers,” said the world number seven.

“This guy is enhancing the flagship event, the whole tour, and players come in and criticise that. That’s amazing — how must he feel?”

Els said he could not understand why some players had not spoken to him directly.

“Some players who made critical comments came to me, some players haven’t come to me — and I don’t understand that.”

The 40-year-old South African added: “Obviously the 18th didn’t quite come out the way we wanted…but we didn’t need a bunch of know-all people to criticise everything — that is the disappointing part.

“These greens were only laid in November and December and we are now holding the biggest tournament on tour on these greens. I think it’s a hell of a feat by the whole team.”

Els said he would make some changes for the 2011 PGA Championship, particularly the eighth and 18th holes.

“Definitely 18. I can show you the plans I drew for it at the get-go,” said Els. “I’d also like to make changes on eight, I don’t like the heather on the mounds there.

“I’d even like to change the eighth green because that’s another one I wanted lower.

“But for the rest I think it’s unbelievable. The green superintendent Chris Kennedy has really got these bunkers almost the way we want them,” added the triple major winner.

(Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Drew Barrymore to direct Wizard Of Oz sequel?

London, May 20 (ANI): Actress Drew Barrymore is said to have again decided to go behind the camera to direct another OZ sequel.

The actress was originally listed to act in the project when it was first proposed back in 2002.

She would have played the great great granddaughter of Dorothy, a young woman who has to learn how to use the power to keep the Wicked Witch of the West from taking control of the kingdoms of Earth and Oz, reports the Daily Star.

But now she has agreed to helm the project, following her directorial debut with last year”s (09) ‘Whip It’.

It is still unclear if she still intends to take on the lead role. (ANI)

Jesus “JC” Christ coming to Comedy Central

New York, May 8 (ANI): American cable and satellite television channel Comedy Central has announced that it is developing a half-hour animated show about a character named Jesus “JC” Christ.

The show will be about “JC” wanting to escape his dad”s considerable shadow to chill out in New York as a regular guy, only to find things have changed on earth over the last 2,000 years, reports the New York Post.

JC quickly discovers that he”s a fish out of water, and gets little sympathy from a “powerful but apathetic” God, who prefers playing video games to listening to junior blabbering about life in the city.

The potential series is being described as a “playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb”.

The announcement comes less than a month after Comedy Central”s controversial decision to censor an animated image of the Prophet Mohammed during an episode of “South Park”. (ANI)

Demand of eco-friendly earthen pots increases in Jammu

Jammu, May 7 (ANI): With the onset of summer, earthen pots are becoming more and more popular in Jammu.
People are making use of these eco-friendly pots to cool water.

The pots are widely used by the poor but this year, however, it has been observed that even the middle- class and the elite are readily buying these environment-friendly refrigerators.

“Earlier, only the poor would use earthen pots to cool water but now we are observing that even the middle class is eagerly adapting this trend. Maybe it”s because of health concerns and rising number of diseases, or due to recommendations from doctors,” said Dharam Veer, a potter.

The pots not only keep the water cool but do so in an environment-friendly way. It is also believed that drinking water stored in earthen pots is also much healthier.

“After one year or one season of use, the earthen pot can be broken and it can be mixed with earth again. So it is a reusable thing. Secondly, if we limit the use of refrigerants like neon and all, they all cause depletion of ozone layer which contributes to global warming. So, in a way we are decreasing global warming,” said Ritu Ahal, a doctor.

The water stored in a clay pot has a refreshing flavor and gets cooled to as low as 14-15 degrees Celsius within a few hours. (ANI)

Sunlight reflection confirms presence of liquid on Saturn”s moon Titan

Washington, May 6 (ANI): NASA”s Cassini Spacecraft has captured a glint of light reflecting from the surface of Saturn”s moon Titan, which confirms the presence of a lake filled with liquid.

The discovery makes Titan the only place besides Earth known to have a body of liquid on its surface.

Stephan et al. report the first detection of a directly visible glint, also called a specular reflection, which occurs when sunlight reflects off a smooth, mirror-like liquid surface.

NASA”s Cassini Spacecraft captured an image of the glint on 8 July 2009, and the researchers determined that it came from Kraken Mare, a large, lake-shaped basin near Titan”s north pole.

Until recently the northern polar regions of Titan had been in winter darkness since Cassini”s arrival in 2004; the recent direct illumination by sunlight made it possible to observe these optical reflections for the first time. (ANI)

Giant airship can carry 1,000 pounds of payloads up to 20,000-ft above Earth

Washington, May 6 (ANI): A 235-foot prototype Bullet Airship, called The Bullet 580, can carry 1,000 pounds of payloads up to 20,000 feet above Earth.

The inflatable airship, which has a helium-filled tanker and an inner hull filled with ambient air, can fly heavy instruments to high altitudes and remote locations, or serve as an eye-in-the-sky. It will be inflated later this month, for the first time ever.

The airship, a pioneering technological innovation in a long time, will be used as a sky based platform to relay communications and to keep watch on oil spills, forest fires or even pirates at sea.

“We”re kind of like a truck in the sky that can have different types of payloads for different requirements,” Discovery News quoted Mike Lawson as saying. Lawson is the chief executive of Alabama-based E-Green Technologies.

“The bags expand as we go up in altitude,” said Lawson. “If you hit a hard landing with any of our airships, it”s just going to kind of bounce. (ANI)

X Factor bosses deny Peter Andre’s judge offer claim

London, April 24(ANI): Bosses of the Australian version of ‘X Factor’ have refuted Peter Andre’s claim that he was offered the job of a judge in the reality show.

The singer had earlier said that he had turned down the offer, as he didn’t want to be separated from his children- Junior, four, and Princess, two- for too long.

He said: “I had to turn it down. It would mean being away for about four months. I hate turning down fantastic opportunities – but my children absolutely come first.”

However, a spokesman for Syco TV, which co-produces the hit series with FremantleMedia and Talkback Thames, has denied the claim.

“Peter Andre has never been offered any role on The X Factor in any country,” the Daily Star quoted the rep, as saying.

Meanwhile, Andre’s spokesman Claire Powell insisted he had been offered the job.

She said: “We had an email into our office about three weeks ago.

“It came from Fremantle, who co- produce The X Factor, asking whether Peter would be involved in Australia’s edition. We had a serious discussion about it.

“Why on Earth would Peter or any of us make that up?”

Andre’s ex-wife Katie Price is expected to make an appearance on the show. (ANI)

Scientists track space junk to save satellites

Researchers at the University of Western Australia (UWA) are tracking space junk in the Earth’s orbit in an effort to protect satellites from damage.

There are thousands of pieces of debris floating in space which threaten satellites and could potentially affect telecommunications, navigation and security.

Associate Professor David Coward says UWA has teamed up with French astronomers to create a database of debris, using astronomical telescopes.

He says that information can eventually be used to either destroy the debris or remove a satellite from its path.

“It’s increasing at an alarming rate. There’s about 30,000 new pieces of space debris going into space orbit every year,” he said.

“We’re planning a pilot study this year where we can test out a few of the techniques developed by our French collaborators, and then we can scale up to tracking hundreds of space debris a year.

“It can cause some serious damage and the problem with space debris is that it’s travelling at very high velocities.

“We’ve got all of our communication satellites that are vulnerable to space debris.”

Associate Professor Coward says his team will use robotic astronomical telescopes to track the location of debris.

Bats rely on sun”s position at sunset to navigate

Washington, March 30 (ANI): Despite the fact that bats are nocturnal creatures, they rely on the position of the sun at sunset to navigate, a new study has found.

For the study, scientists at the Max Planck Institute examined greater mouse-eared bats to see if they could find their way home even from somewhere they had never been before or if Earth”s magnetic field, which earlier studies have shown are used by bats to navigate, had been tinkered with.

First, the researchers captured bats and released them 25 kilometers from their roost cave.

When they followed the bats with the help of small radio transmitters, the researchers found that within one to three kilometers most of the bats were heading in the direction of their cave. The fastest were back home within two hours.

Once the researchers had worked out that bats could find their way home from a strange place, they wanted to know how they did it.

They tested the hypothesis that bats do as birds do and calibrate their magnetic compasses – which use the Earth”s magnetic field to navigate — to the sun.

The researchers altered the magnetic field for half the bats at night, shifting it from north to east using a Helmholtz coil after the sun had completely set.

The bats with the altered magnetic field flew in the same direction as the control bats – in other words, they headed home.

When the researchers altered the magnetic field when the sun was setting, the bats flew off course, heading east instead of south, towards home.

The researchers concluded that the bats used the position of the sun at sunset as the most reliable indication of direction.

Bats seem to know that the sun always sets in the west whereas Earth”s magnetic field is less reliable, because its iron deposits can change its qualities, the researchers concluded.

By watching bats” flight pattern, the researchers were able to determine where the sun had set, even an hour after it had completely disappeared, the researchers said.

The study has been published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. (ANI)

Taliban militants killed in Pakistan chopper attack

Helicopter gunships have pounded Taliban hideouts in Pakistan’s north-western tribal district overnight, killing at least 13 militants.

Pakistani officials say the shelling destroyed three militant hideouts and two houses of Taliban commanders in the Orakzai region.

The gunships targeted hideouts in Ferozkhel, a village on the outskirts of Kalyal, the main town in Orakzai region.

The demolished houses of the two Taliban commanders were also being used as militant training centres, he said.

“At least 13 militants were killed in the attacks,” administrative official Asmatullah Khan said.

Under US pressure, Pakistan has in the past year significantly increased operations against militants in its north-west and tribal belt, which Washington has branded an Al Qaeda “headquarters” and the most dangerous region on Earth.

The rugged tribal terrain became a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled neighbouring Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in late 2001.

Washington says the militants use Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt to plot and stage attacks in Afghanistan, where more than 120,000 NATO and US troops are helping Afghan forces battle the Taliban.

- AFP

Nine-day ‘Navratri’ festival begins all over India

New Delhi/ Faizabad/Allahabad, Sept 19 (ANI): The nine-day ‘Navratri’ festival began across India with religious fervour on Saturday.

Thousands of devotees queued up at various temples dedicated to Goddess Durga.

In New Delhi, devotees converged at Jhandewalan to offer prayers prior to dawn and observed fast throughout the day.

“We observe fast on the first day of Navratri. On the first day, we pray for the whole day and meditate on Goddess Durga,” said Madan Gehlot, a devotee.

Meanwhile, at Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, people made a beeline to the temple of Goddess Badi Devkali.

The devotees believe their wishes are fulfilled if they pray to Goddess Badi Devkali during the festival.

“People believe that coming here redeems them from their sins. Since the Goddess Devkali is the deity of Lord Rama’s dynasty, her significance is all the more. That’s why people come here to offer prayers to the Goddess,” said Poonam, a devotee.

Earlier on Friday, a day prior to the commencement of Dusshera, a unique annual horse procession was taken out through the streets of Allahabad.

The belief is that the horse representing sage Vyasa would relate the Ramayana.

Musical bands led the attractively decorated white horse procession organised by a leading Ram Lila committee of the city.

“Legend says that when Maharishi Valmiki narrated the story of Lord Rama to Luv and Kush then this horse standing next to them also listened to the story. The horse in the form of sage Vyasa tells the story of Rama to people during the Navratri celebrations,” said Ajay Kumar Shukla, secretary, Ramlila Committee.

“Naaratri”, which literally means nine nights, is observed twice a year.

The festival lasts for nine days in honour of nine manifestations of Durga, goddess of power, and fall in the months of April-May and September-October.

It is believed that during the Navratri, Goddess Durga descends on earth to rid it of the demons and blesses her devotees with happiness and prosperity. (ANI)

Planck spacecraft obtains first peek of big bang’s ‘afterglow’

London, September 18 (ANI): European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Planck spacecraft has obtained its first peek at the afterglow of the big bang, revealing it in unprecedented detail.

The ESA spacecraft was launched into space on May 14 this year. It is observing the glow of hot gas from just 380,000 years after the big bang, called the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

According to a report in New Scientist, the detailed properties of this background may contain hints of hidden extra dimensions or multiple universes, as well as providing clues to what caused a brief, early period of incredibly rapid cosmic expansion.

Planck began surveying the microwave background on August 13, a few weeks after reaching its planned perch 1.5 million kilometres from Earth at a point called L2 and cooling its detectors to within 0.1 degrees Celsius above absolute zero.

Now, the Planck team has released the probe’s first image, an observational strip covering about 5 per cent of the sky.

Slight variations in temperature from place to place in the early universe give the image its mottled appearance.

“With a few per cent of the data in, you can see it’s working well and delivering good stuff,” said team member George Efstathiou of the University of Cambridge.

Planck is expected to provide the most detailed all-sky map of the cosmic microwave background yet, improving on the best current map, obtained by NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which launched in 2001.

Planck’s detectors have more than 10 times the sensitivity of WMAP’s, and about 2.5 times the angular resolution.

“Every strip that Planck scans, we’re getting data that is many, many times more sensitive than WMAP,” Efstathiou told New Scientist.

Although Planck was only designed to observe the sky for 15 months, the team believes it could last for more than 30 months, based on new estimates of how long its coolant will last.

The extra time will allow Planck to measure the radiation with even greater precision, since it will scan the entire sky four times – two more than originally planned. (ANI)

How life might evolve with “exotic” biochemistry and solvents

London, September 18 (ANI): Scientists at a new interdisciplinary research group in Austria are working to uncover how life might evolve with “exotic” biochemistry and solvents, such as sulfuric acid instead of water.

The research group for Alternative Solvents as a Basis for Life Supporting Zones in (Exo-) Planetary Systems was established by the University of Vienna.

Traditionally, planets that might sustain life are looked for in the ‘habitable zone’, the region around a star in which Earth-like planets with carbon dioxide, water vapor and nitrogen atmospheres could maintain liquid water on their surfaces.

Consequently, scientists have been looking for biomarkers produced by extraterrestrial life with metabolisms resembling the terrestrial ones, where water is used as a solvent and the building blocks of life, amino acids, are based on carbon and oxygen.

However, these may not be the only conditions under which life could evolve.

“It is time to make a radical change in our present geocentric mindset for life as we know it on Earth,” said scientist Johannes Leitner.

“Even though this is the only kind of life we know, it cannot be ruled out that life forms have evolved somewhere that neither rely on water nor on a carbon and oxygen based metabolism,” he added.

One requirement for a life-supporting solvent is that it remains liquid over a large temperature range.

Water is liquid between 0 degree Celsius and 100 degrees C, but other solvents exist which are liquid over more than 200 degrees C.

Such a solvent would allow an ocean on a planet closer to the central star.

The reverse scenario is also possible. A liquid ocean of ammonia could exist much further from a star.

Furthermore, sulfuric acid can be found within the cloud layers of Venus and it is now known that lakes of methane/ethane cover parts of the surface of the Saturnian satellite Titan.

Consequently, the discussion on potential life and the best strategies for its detection is ongoing and not only limited to exoplanets and habitable zones.

The newly established research group at the University of Vienna, together with international collaborators, will investigate the properties of a range of solvents other than water, including their abundance in space, thermal and biochemical characteristics as well as their ability to support the origin and evolution of life supporting metabolisms. (ANI)

Tight security at Vaishno Devi shrine ahead of “Navratri”

Katra, Sept 18 (ANI): Security has been beefed up at the famous Vaishno Devi Temple near Jammu ahead of the nine-day “Navratri” festival.

Paramilitary and police personnel are patrolling and frisking people at important points in Katra, which is thronged by thousands of devotees every year, especially during Navratri.

The nine-day Navratri festival will begin from Saturday and the authorities claim to be in full control of the situation.

“There is much fanfare in Katra during Navratra festival and the inflow of tourists also rises manifold during those days. We have made proper security arrangements. We have taken the help of the CRPF. This time, we also have one contingent of Haryana police,” said Ashok Sharma, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).

The devotees making their way to the shrine were also put through rigorous checking, a routine, exercised with extra care, considering the sensitive nature of the shrine and keeping recent threats in mind.

The devotees complied without complaining.

“There was not much trouble during the security check. We were checked several times but we did not face any problem. It was all done very safely,” said Vijay Kumar, a devotee.

‘Navratri’, which literally means nine nights, is observed twice a year.

The festival lasts for nine days in honour of nine manifestations of Durga, goddess of power ,and fall in the months of April-May and September-October.

It is believed that during the Navratri, Goddess Durga descends on earth to rid it of the demons and blesses her devotees with happiness and prosperity. (ANI)

Scientists find meteorite that came from innermost asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

Washington, September 18 (ANI): In a very rare finding, scientists have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered that it came from the innermost main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Meteorites are the only surviving physical record of the formation of our Solar System.

However, information about where individual meteorites originated, and how they were moving around the Solar System prior to falling to Earth, is available for only a dozen of around 1100 documented meteorite falls over the past two hundred years.

According to Dr Phil Bland from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, the lead author of the study, “We are incredibly excited about our new finding. Meteorites are the most analysed rocks on Earth, but it’s really rare for us to be able to tell where they came from.”

The new meteorite, which is about the size of cricket ball, is the first to be retrieved since researchers from Imperial College London, Ondrejov Observatory in the Czech Republic, and the Western Australian Museum, set up a trial network of cameras in the Nullarbor Desert in Western Australia in 2006.

The researchers aim to use these cameras to find new meteorites, and work out where in the Solar System they came from, by tracking the fireballs that they form in the sky.

The new meteorite was found on the first day of searching using the new network, by the first search expedition, within 100m of the predicted site of the fall.

The meteorite appears to have been following an unusual orbit, or path around the Sun, prior to falling to Earth in July 2007, according to the researchers’ calculations.

The team believes that it started out as part of an asteroid in the innermost main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

It then gradually evolved into an orbit around the Sun that was very similar to Earth’s.

The new meteorite is also unusual because it is composed of a rare type of basaltic igneous rock.

According to the researchers, its composition, together with the data about where the meteorite comes from, fits with a recent theory about how the building blocks for the terrestrial planets were formed.

This theory suggests that the igneous parent asteroids for meteorites like today’s formed deep in the inner Solar System, before being scattered out into the main asteroid belt.

Asteroids are widely believed to be the building blocks for planets like the Earth, so the new finding provides another clue about the origins of the Solar System. (ANI)

Findings from India’s Chandrayaan to provide new understanding of lunar surface

London, September 18 (ANI): India’s Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) has gathered data for a total of 30 solar flares, giving the most accurate measurements to date of magnesium, aluminum, silicon, calcium, and iron in the lunar surface.

Although contact was lost with Chandrayaan-1 last month, the enhanced performance of the C1XS instrument, which exceeded its design specification, means that the science team will be able to determine the geochemistry of new areas of the lunar surface, adding some vital pieces to the jigsaw of the mineralogy of the lunar surface.

The miniature C1XS instrument investigated the lunar surface using an effect whereby X-ray illumination from the Sun causes rocks to fluoresce, emitting light at a different wavelength.

This re-emitted light contains spectral peaks that are characteristic of elements contained in the rock, revealing its composition.

Solar flares act like a flash bulb, giving added illumination and allowing C1XS to ‘see’ more elements.

During normal conditions, C1XS could detect magnesium, aluminum, and silicon and collected data on the levels of these elements, enabling detailed mapping of areas of the lunar surface during its operational period.

During the 30 solar flares, C1XS detected calcium and iron (and sometimes titanium, sodium, and potassium) in key areas in the southern hemisphere and on the far side of the Moon.

The spectral resolution of 50 km was much better than previous missions.

According to Professor Grande, “The C1XS team will be analyzing the data collected during the Chandrayaan-1 mission over the next few months, and the results will help us further our knowledge of the Moon and planetary formation.”

In addition, the design of the instrument has been proved very successful in that it withstood passage through the Earth’s radiation belts and went on to produce these wonderful high-resolution spectra. We were able to separate clear peaks for each of the target elements, allowing us not only to identify where they are present but give an accurate estimate for how much is there,” he said.

“The technology developed for C1XS opens up some exciting opportunities for future missions,” he added. (ANI)

Coming soon: Harry Potter theme park

London, Sep 16 (ANI): Harry Potter fans can soon experience the thrills of the adventures of the hugely popular boy wizard, for a new theme park based on the hit franchise is set to open next year.

The theme park, called ‘The Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter’, is set to open in spring 2010 at Universal Studios, the Orlando resort has announced.he park is being developed in coordination with J.K. Rowling, the author of the immensely successful books, which have been adapted into films.

Recreating the fabled Hogwarts school that Potter and his friends attend, as well as the nearby village of Hogsmeade, the theme park promises a “completely immersive environment” for visitors.

“All of the action and adventures of Harry Potter’s world will come to life here at Universal Orlando Resort,” the Telegraph quoted Tom Williams, chairman and CEO of Universal Parks and Resorts, as saying.

“The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be unlike any other experience on earth,” he added.

In fact, visitors at a replica of the Three Broomsticks, one of Hogsmeade’s popular pubs, will be treated to traditional British fare and have the chance to sip on Butterbeer – Potter’s tipple of choice.

The park will also feature theme rides, including the ‘Flight of the Hippogriff’, which will simulate a training flight on the magical, quick-to-offend creature.

Those who lobed the fast-paced wizard sport Quidditch, will also have a chance to participate in a simulated Triwizard Tournament, as well as examine Quidditch equipment and even the elusive Golden Snitch at several Hogsmeade shops.

“Harry Potter continues to spark the imaginations of fans of all ages and we really have seen the anticipation continue to build for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” said Brad Globe, president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products. (ANI)

Scientists unravel chemistry of Titan’s hazy atmosphere

Washington, September 16 (ANI): In a new research, a team of scientists has unraveled the chemical evolution of the orange-brownish colored atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, the only solar system body besides Venus and Earth with a solid surface and thick atmosphere.

Scientists at University of Hawai’i at Manoa carried out the research.

The UH Manoa team, including Xibin Gu and Seol Kim, conducted simulation experiments mimicking the chemical reactions in Titan’s atmosphere utilizing crossed molecular beams in which the consequence of a single collision between molecules can be followed.

The team’s experiments indicate that triacetylene can be formed by a single collision of a “radical” ethynyl molecule and a diacetylene molecule.

An ethynyl radical is produced in Titan’s atmosphere by the photodissociation of acetylene by ultraviolet light.

Photodissociation is a process in which a chemical compound is broken down by photons.

“Surprisingly, the photochemical models show inconsistent mechanisms for the production of polyynes,” said Kaiser, who is the principal investigator of this study.

The mechanism involved in the formation of triacetylene, was also confirmed by accompanying theoretical calculations by Alexander Mebel, a theoretical chemist at Florida International University.

These theoretical computations also provide the 3D distribution of electrons in atoms and thus the overall energy level of a molecule.

To apply these findings to the real atmosphere of Titan, Danie Liang and Yuk Yung, planetary scientists at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica and California Institute of Technology (Caltech), respectively, performed photochemical modeling studies of Titan’s atmosphere.

All data together suggest that triacetylene may serve as a building block to form more complex and longer polyynes and produce potential precursors for the aerosol-based layers of haze surrounding Titan.

The study demonstrated for the first time that a sensible combination of laboratory simulation experiments with theory and modeling studies can shed light on decade old unsolved problems crucial to understand the origin and chemical evolution of the solar system.

The researchers hope to unravel next the mystery of the missing ethane lakes on Titan – postulated to exist for half a century, but not detected conclusively within the framework of the Cassini-Huygens mission.

In the future, the UH Manoa team will combine the research results with terrestrial-based observations of Titan’s atmosphere. (ANI)

Cracks on Mars a result of evaporating lakes in ancient times

Washington, September 16 (ANI): Networks of giant polygonal troughs etched across crater basins on Mars have been identified as desiccation cracks caused by evaporating lakes, providing further evidence of a warmer, wetter Martian past.

The findings were presented at the European Planetary Science Congress by PhD student M. Ramy El Maarry of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.

The polygons are formed when long cracks in the surface of the Martian soil intersect.

El Maarry investigated networks of cracks inside 266 impact basins across the surface of Mars and observed polygons reaching up to 250 meters in diameter.

Polygonal troughs have been imaged by several recent missions but, until now, they have been attributed to thermal contractions in the Martian permafrost.

El Maarry created an analytical model to determine the depth and spacing of cracks caused by stresses building up through cooling in the Martian soil.

He found that polygons caused by thermal contraction could have a maximum diameter of only about 65 meters, much smaller than the troughs he was seeing in the craters.

“I got excited when I saw that the crater floor polygons seemed to be too large to be caused by thermal processes. I also saw that they resembled the desiccation cracks that we see on Earth in dried up lakes,” said El Maarry.

“The stresses that build up when liquids evaporate can cause deep cracks and polygons on the scale I was seeing in the craters,” he added.

El Maarry identified the crater floor polygons using images taken by the MOC camera on Mars Global Surveyor and the HiRISE and Context cameras on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The polygons in El Maarry’s survey had an average diameter of between 70 and 140 kilometers, with the width of the actual cracks ranging between 1 and 10 meters.

Evidence suggests that between 4.6 and 3.8 billion years ago, Mars was covered in significant amounts of water.

Rain and river water would have collected inside impact crater basins, creating lakes that may have existed for several thousand years before drying out.

However, according to El Maarry, in the northern hemisphere, some of the crater floor polygons could have been formed much more recently.

“When a meteorite impacts with the Martian surface, the heat can melt ice trapped beneath the Martian crust and create what we call a hydrothermal system. Liquid water can fill the crater to form a lake, covered in a thick layer of ice. Even under current climatic conditions, this may take many thousands of years to disappear, finally resulting in the desiccation patterns,” said El Maarry. (ANI)

Research team all set to explore sacred Maya pools of Belize

Washington, September 14 (ANI): A team of expert divers, a geochemist and an archaeologist is all set to become the first to explore the sacred pools of the southern Maya lowlands in rural Belize.

The expedition, made possible with a grant from the National Geographic Society and led by a University of Illinois archaeologist, will investigate the cultural significance and environmental history and condition of three of the 23 pools of Cara Blanca, in central Belize.

Called ‘cenotes’, these groundwater-filled sinkholes in the limestone bedrock were treated as sacred sites by the Maya, according to University of Illinois archaeologist Lisa Lucero, who will lead the expedition next spring.

“Any openings in the earth were considered portals to the underworld, into which the ancient Maya left offerings,” said Lucero. “We know from ethnographic accounts that Maya collected sacred water from these sacred places, mostly from caves,” she added.

Studies of shallow lakes and cenotes in Mexico and Guatemala have found that the Maya also left elaborate offerings in the sacred lakes and pools.

Items found on the bottom of lakes in these regions include masks, bells, jade, human remains, figurines and ceramic vessels decorated with animals, plants and the gods of fertility and death.

“Diving the sacred pools of Cara Blanca, in central Belize, is necessary to determine if they have similar sacred qualities,” Lucero said.

“Once underwater, we will first have to cut out some of the jungle wood so that we can even reach the bottom,” said Patricia Beddows, a lecturer of earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern University and an expert diver who has explored cenotes on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.

“After mapping for fragile Maya artifacts, we will also take water data and manually drill sediment cores,” she added.

“The sediment samples will provide a record of changes in surface and water conditions,” Beddows said.

“Were the Maya challenged by droughts in the area? Did the water quality suddenly go bad due to sulfur or other geologic factors? We hope these cenotes will provide a rich story of linked human and environmental conditions,” she said.

One of the three pools the researchers will explore has a substantial Maya structure on its edge, likely ceremonial.

Preliminary investigations of the structure conducted by archaeologist Andrew Kinkella, of Moorpark College, turned up a lot of jars and the fragments of jars.

“This could indicate that the site was important for collecting sacred water,” Lucero said. (ANI)