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

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

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)

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Genes controlling insulin ‘alter’ body clock

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 18 (ANI): Scientists at University of California, San Diego have identified certain insulin-regulating genes that can also alter the timing of the body clock.

They said that the findings can lead to new approaches to treating disorders such as metabolic syndrome that can result, at least in part, from chronic disruption of the sleep-wake cycle.

“People knew that the clock regulates many different processes, but what they didn’t realize what that when you tweak those processes, it feeds back and alters the clock,” said Steve Kay, Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, who led the study along with John Hogenesch of the University of Pennsylvania.

A molecular clock controls daily physiological rhythms in many types of cells, even cells grown in culture.

By engineering cultured cells to glow yellow when a particular clock gene switched on, the team made the cycle visible. They then interfered with every human gene to see which would shift the clock. They found that hundreds altered the timing.

“We just suddenly discovered 350 new genes that affect the clock that weren’t known before,” Kay said.

However, subsequent screening to confirm the genes’ effect on a second clock gene narrowed the list to 200.

Seven genes involved in insulin control also influenced the rhythms of the clock.

“What came out very strongly was this close relationship between circadian regulation and insulin signalling. There’s a reciprocal relationship between circadian dysfunction and metabolic dysfunction,” said Kay.

The researchers suggest that genetically altered mice with malfunctioning clocks become obese and develop diet-induced diabetes.Understanding this close relationship between circadian regulation and metabolic homeostasis should provide novel ways of identifying new therapies for metabolic disease,” Kay added.

The study appears in journal Cell. (ANI)

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Artificial red blood cells a step closer

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Aug 24 (ANI): A team of Australian scientists has genetically modified human embryonic stem cells to glow red when they develop into premature red blood cells.

The breakthrough is seen as the next step in producing artificial blood.

Dr Andrew Elefanty at Monash University in Melbourne and his colleagues inserted specific genes that code for colour, into the DNA of a manufactured stem cell line.

Stem cells are the template from which all cell types in the body form.

He says the coloured genes, known as ‘reporters’, highlight the emergence of certain cell types.

“What we’ve said to the stem cells is when you’re going to turn on the gene for globin we want you to also turn on a red light,” ABC Science quoted Elefanty as saying.

He says fluorescing cells are a useful tool to help work out the best way to engineer specific cells.

“We learn what the right growth enhancing substances are that the body normally uses and we put those into the laboratory,” he said.

Elefanty says fluorescing cells also allows scientists to monitor the cells when they’ve been injected into animals.

“Sometimes it’s not that easy to tell the difference between the ones you put in and the ones that were already there,” he said.

The researchers are hoping the development of glowing stem cell lines will help them work out how to develop mature red blood cells faster.

However, Elefanty says they are still a way off producing artificial blood that could be used in human blood transfusions.

He and his colleagues are working with Queensland researchers to develop ways to mature the cells, but there are still many issues to resolve.

“We’ve got to make sure the cells are safe, that they don’t keep growing and form tumours and that the immune system doesn’t reject them,” he said.

The research has been published in today’s edition of Nature Methods. (ANI)

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Earliest stars in Universe may have been twins

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 10 (ANI): Astrophysicists, using extremely detailed computer simulations, have determined that the earliest stars in the universe formed not only as individuals, but sometimes also as twins.

The robust simulations of the early universe were created by astrophysicists Matthew Turk and Tom Abel of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, and Brian O’Shea of Michigan State University.

“We used to think that these stars formed by themselves, but now we see from our computer simulations that sometimes they have siblings,” said Turk.

“These stars provide the seeds of next generation star formation, so by understanding them we can better understand how other stars and galaxies formed,” he added.

To make this discovery, the researchers created an extremely detailed computer simulation of early star formation.

Into this virtual universe, they sprinkled primordial gas and dark matter as it existed soon after the Big Bang, data they obtained from observations of the cosmic microwave background.

This mostly uniform radiation – a faint glow of radio waves spread across the entire sky – contains subtle variations that reflect the beginning of all structure in the universe.

The simulations focused on the first Population III stars: massive, hot stars thought to have formed a mere several hundred million years after the Big Bang.

As the researchers watched their simulated universe evolve, waves of gas and dark matter swirled through the hot, dense universe.

As the universe cooled, gravity began to draw the matter together into clumps. In areas rich with matter, stars began to form.

In one out of the researchers’ five simulations, a single cloud of dust and dark matter formed into “twin” stars: one with a mass equivalent to about 10 suns, and one with a mass equivalent to about 6.3 suns.

Both of them were still growing at the end of the calculation and will likely grow to many times that mass.

“We ran five of these calculations starting from the beginning of the universe, and to our surprise one of them was special,” said Abel.

“This opens a whole new realm of research possibilities. These stars could evolve into two black holes, which could have created gravitational waves we could detect with an instrument like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory,” he added.

“This will help us fine-tune our models for how structure in the universe formed and evolved. Understanding the very early stars helps us understand what we see today,” Turk said. (ANI)

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Astronomers unveil largest map of cold cosmic dust

July 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Berlin, July 2 (ANI): Astronomers have unveiled the largest map of cold cosmic dust, which are peppered in the inner regions of the Milky Way galaxy, and are the potential birthplaces of new stars.

Made using observations from the APEX telescope in Chile, this will prove an invaluable map for observations made with the forthcoming ALMA telescope, as well as the recently launched ESA Herschel space telescope.

This new guide for astronomers, known as the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) shows the Milky Way in submillimeter-wavelength light.

Images of the cosmos at these wavelengths are vital for studying the birthplaces of new stars and the structure of the crowded galactic core.

“ATLASGAL gives us a new look at the Milky Way. Not only will it help us investigate how massive stars form, but it will also give us an overview of the larger-scale structure of our galaxy,” said Frederic Schuller from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, leader of the ATLASGAL team.

The area of the new submillimeter map is approximately 95 square degrees, covering a very long and narrow strip along the galactic plane two degrees wide (four times the width of the full Moon) and over 40 degrees long.

The Universe is relatively unexplored at submillimeter wavelengths, as extremely dry atmospheric conditions and advanced detector technology are required for such observations.

The interstellar medium – the material between the stars – is composed of gas and grains of cosmic dust, rather like fine sand or soot.

However, the gas is mostly hydrogen and relatively difficult to detect, so astronomers often search for these dense regions by looking for the faint heat glow of the cosmic dust grains.

Submillimeter light allows astronomers to see these dust clouds shining, even though they obscure our view of the Universe at visible light wavelengths.

Accordingly, the ATLASGAL map includes the denser central regions of our galaxy, in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius – home to a supermassive black hole that are otherwise hidden behind a dark shroud of dust clouds.

The newly released map reveals thousands of dense dust clumps, many never seen before, which mark the future birthplaces of massive stars.

The clumps are typically a couple of light-years in size, and have masses of between ten and a few thousand times the mass of our Sun. (ANI)

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Argentine mistress of Governor Sanford admits being woman in his life

June 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, June 30 (ANI): The Argentine mistress of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, Maria Belen Chapur, has admitted that she was the woman who drew the rising GOP star away from the country for six days earlier this month.

Aides to the Republican governor had explained his absence by saying that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

She issued a short statement to Buenos Aires’ C5N TV station, tacitly admitting to the affair.

“Of my private life I won’t speak, not now or in the future. It’s been made public enough already, a fact that causes me terrible discomfort,” the statement said.

Chapur, a 41-year-old mother of two, said she had firm suspicions of who hacked into her e-mail and leaked steamy exchanges between her and the governor, who had been a rising star in the GOP.

The State newspaper of Columbia, S.C., obtained the e-mails in December, the Daily News reports.

“Since I don’t have sufficient proof and live in a state of law, I’m obligated to keep their identity anonymous. I am not the judge of anyone; I leave all that in the hands of God,” Chapur’s statement said.

Sanford’s e-mails to Chapur have fascinated both hopeless romantics and serious politicos alike.

If reports are to be believed, the emails are colorful, descriptive, and unabashedly romantic, at times to the point of being schmaltzy and embarrassing.

“Do you really comprehend how beautiful your smile is? Have you been told lately how warm your eyes are and how they softly glow with the special nature of your soul?” the Politico quoted Sanford as having written.

In between the mushy parts, the two of them write about everyday events.

While Maria talks about taking a lazy day trip and reading an Alan Greenspan book, Sanford writes about meetings in New York, the National Governor’s Conference and an invitational with then-presidential candidate Senator John McCain.

According to reports, the letters give the impression that Sanford was a real romantic with a knack for writing.

“The most cherished gift a lover can give and receive is a love letter from the heart,” says romance coach Leslie Karsner, who sells prewritten love letters through a website called ‘Love Letters Now’. (ANI)

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South Carolina Gov. Sanford’s love letters to mistress show his knack for writing

June 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 28 (ANI): South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s e-mails to his Argentine mistress Maria have fascinated both hopeless romantics and serious politicos alike.

If reports are to be believed, the emails are colorful, descriptive, and unabashedly romantic, at times to the point of being schmaltzy and embarrassing.

In between the mushy parts, the two of them write about everyday events.

According to reports, the letters give the impression that Sanford was a real romantic with a knack for writing.

“It’s very romantic, especially with forbidden love. If you take the politics out of it, it’s the story of a man whose heart was captured and he was willing to run the risk of being caught.

“He’s good at keeping her on the edge. He’s good at encouraging future discussions. He’s a busy governor, so the moments they have together are fleeting, and these letters become that much more valuable,” Karsner adds.

When asked what makes the letters so effective, psychologist and relationship coach Anne-Renee Test notes that Sanford and Shapur are about their emotions in the letters.

Test points out that Sanford even compares Shapur’s affections to the unconditional love he felt from his mother.

“They talk about the intensity of teenage love, which is extremely powerful, very real, and it can feel very intense like this. That’s the same intensity you read in these letters. They’re beautiful. I’m jealous,” says the expert.

Sex has been indirectly mentioned, but not detailed, in the letters.

Sanford writes: “The erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of night’s light – but hey, that would be going into the sexual details.”

Maria responds: “I never gave you sexual details but you don’t need to. . .close your eyes and just remember. I’ll do the same.”

The one aspect of their letters that may appear negative is that both the governor and his mistress acknowledge that they may never see one another again.

“Although I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to meet again, this has been the best [thing] that has happened to me in a long time,” she writes, noting later that the situation is likely “hopelessly impossible” and that the love letters may pose a danger to his career.

“I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship…but it was all safe. Where we are is not,” he wrote. (ANI)

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“Cosmic blobs” a result of growing supermassive black holes

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 25 (ANI): New data obtained from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes has pinpointed the source of “cosmic blobs” as growing supermassive black holes.

This discovery helps resolve the true nature of gigantic blobs of gas observed around very young galaxies.

About a decade ago, astronomers discovered immense reservoirs of hydrogen gas, which they named “blobs”, while conducting surveys of young distant galaxies.

The blobs are glowing brightly in optical light, but the source of immense energy required to power this glow and the nature of these objects were unclear.

A long observation from Chandra has identified the source of this energy for the first time.

The X-ray data show that a significant source of power within these colossal structures is from growing supermassive black holes partially obscured by dense layers of dust and gas.

The fireworks of star formation in galaxies are also seen to play an important role, thanks to Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based observations.

“For ten years, the secrets of the blobs had been buried from view, but now we’ve uncovered their power source,” said James Geach of Durham University in the United Kingdom, who led the study.

“Now, we can settle some important arguments about what role they played in the original construction of galaxies and black holes,” he added.

Galaxies are believed to form when gas flows inwards under the pull of gravity and cools by emitting radiation.

This process should stop when the gas is heated by radiation and outflows from galaxies and their black holes.

Blobs could be a sign of this first stage, or of the second.

Based on the new data and theoretical arguments, Geach and his colleagues show that heating of gas by growing supermassive black holes and bursts of star formation, rather than cooling of gas, most likely powers the blobs.

The implication is that blobs represent a stage when the galaxies and black holes are just starting to switch off their rapid growth because of these heating processes.

This is a crucial stage of the evolution of galaxies and black holes – known as “feedback” – and one that astronomers have long been trying to understand.

“We’re seeing signs that the galaxies and black holes inside these blobs are coming of age and are now pushing back on the infalling gas to prevent further growth,” said coauthor Bret Lehmer, also of Durham.

“Massive galaxies must go through a stage like this or they would form too many stars and so end up ridiculously large by the present day,” he added. (ANI)

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Cosmic “ghost” found lurking around supermassive black hole

May 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 29 (ANI): NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a cosmic “ghost” lurking around a distant supermassive black hole, which is the first detection of such a high-energy apparition, and may be evidence of a huge eruption produced by the black hole.

The X-ray ghost, so-called because a diffuse X-ray source has remained after other radiation from the outburst has died away, is in the Chandra Deep Field-North, one of the deepest X-ray images ever taken.

The source, a.k.a. HDF 130, is over 10 billion light-years away and existed at a time 3 billion years after the Big Bang, when galaxies and black holes were forming at a high rate.

“We’d seen this fuzzy object a few years ago, but didn’t realize until now that we were seeing a ghost”, said Andy Fabian of the Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.

“It’s not out there to haunt us, rather it’s telling us something – in this case what was happening in this galaxy billions of year ago,” he added.

Fabian and colleagues think the X-ray glow from HDF 130 is evidence for a powerful outburst from its central black hole in the form of jets of energetic particles traveling at almost the speed of light.

When the eruption was ongoing, it produced prodigious amounts of radio and X-radiation, but after several million years, the radio signal faded from view as the electrons radiated away their energy.

However, less energetic electrons can still produce X-rays by interacting with the pervasive sea of photons remaining from the Big Bang – the cosmic background radiation.

Collisions between these electrons and the background photons can impart enough energy to the photons to boost them into the X-ray energy band.

This process produces an extended X-ray source that lasts for another 30 million years or so.

“This ghost tells us about the black hole’s eruption long after it has died,” said co-author Scott Chapman, also of Cambridge University. “This means we don’t have to catch the black holes in the act to witness the big impact they have,” he added.

This is the first X-ray ghost ever seen after the demise of radio-bright jets.

In HDF 130, only a point source is detected in radio images, coinciding with the massive elliptical galaxy seen in its optical image.

This radio source indicates the presence of a growing supermassive black hole.

“This result hints that the X-ray sky should be littered with such ghosts, especially if black hole eruptions are as common as we think they are in the early Universe,” said co-author Caitlin Casey, also of Cambridge. (ANI)

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Bungling aide leaves UK PM Brown red-faced

May 11, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

London, May 11 (ANI): British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was left red-faced on Sunday when a bungling aide left his make-up tips in a taxi.

The note, which was found among a pile of sensitive documents, told how the craggy-faced PM applies layers of slap and fake tan.

A white A4 sheet listed Brown’s make-up routine if he has to do it himself. It read:

1.Transparent Brush. Foam all over. This is believed to be an illuminating foam to give the PM’s face that certain glow.

2.Small pot under eyes, dimple, creases, blend in. This refers to the use of concealer to smooth out facial bumps and blemishes.

3.Clinique. Super balanced make-up. All over again, like painting a wall, and ears. Shut eyes over lids then with make-up pad smooth over liquid. This tells the PM to trowel foundation over his whole face.

4.Powder (dark brush) terracotta Guerlain, all over. Slap on fake tan bronzer.

Taking the shine off … powder

A Westminster insider said: “It’s an idiot’s guide to applying heavy make-up. It will cause deep embarrassment because the PM paints himself as a no-nonsense man’s man.”

Brown, 58, whose claims for a cleaner were revealed last week, has never put cosmetics on expenses.

But No 10 officials will be more concerned by other papers in the aide’s rucksack, left in a London black cab after the ministerial party arrived at Kings Cross from Yorkshire on Friday.

It contained discussions on how to handle the expenses scandal – and a schedule for Brown’s trip, marked Confidential.

Times of departure, the cars the PM and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith were in and their train times were detailed. It could have been put to deadly use if it fell into the hands of terrorists before the journey.

The cabbie handed it to The Sun, which returned it to Downing Street last night. (ANI)

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Dust-swaddled galaxies light up the Universe

April 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, April 10 (ANI): An Antarctic balloon experiment has revealed that dramatic dust-swaddled stellar nurseries seem to be the main sources of a diffuse background light found in all directions in the Universe.

Astronomers have long suspected that individual galaxies are responsible for a diffuse glow of long-wavelength infrared light, called the far infrared background, that was detected by NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer satellite in the 1990s.

But, accounting for all that light has been difficult, because astronomers must look for such distant galaxies in submillimetre light, which sits between radio and infrared light in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Water vapour in Earth’s atmosphere easily absorbs this radiation, making it difficult to detect from the ground.

According to a report in New Scientist, the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) got around this problem by floating above most of Earth’s atmosphere.

The 2-metre telescope flew above Antarctica for 12 days and landed in early 2007.

By comparing BLAST’s data with that of the Spitzer Space Telescope, a team has identified some 450 individual sources that seem to be responsible for almost all of the far infrared background in the patch of sky BLAST observed.

“Essentially all the radiation came from individual galaxies,” said Mark Devlin of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

More than half of the light seems to have been created by distant starbursts – galaxies undergoing intense star formation – at a time when the universe was less than 5 billion years old.

Smashups between galaxies triggered the formation of the most extreme bursts, which can radiate 1000 times more light than the Milky Way.

Dust in these distant galaxies blocks visible light from reaching Earth, but the energy of newly forming stars is absorbed and re-radiated in the infrared part of the spectrum.

“It seems finally we have identified where most of the dust in the universe is,” said Asantha Cooray, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Irvine.

Since stars rely on dust and gas for fuel, this could be useful for mapping how stars formed over the universe’s history. (ANI)

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Scientists solve origin of ocean’s mysterious ‘green glow’

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 2 (ANI): Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC (University of California) San Diego have uncovered key clues about bioluminescent worms in the sea that produce a green glow and the biological mechanisms behind their light production.

Research conducted by Scripps marine biologists Dimitri Deheyn and Michael Latz reveals that marine fireworms use bioluminescence to attract suitors in an undersea mating ritual.

The report provides insights into the function of fireworm bioluminescence and moves scientists closer to identifying the molecular basis of the light.

“This is another step toward understanding the biology of the bioluminescence in fireworms, and it also brings us closer to isolating the protein that produces the light,” said Deheyn.

“If we understand how it is possible to keep light so stable for such a long time, it would provide opportunities to use that protein or reaction in biomedical, bioengineering and other fields-the same way other proteins have been used,” he added.

The fireworms used in the study (Odontosyllis phosphorea) are seafloor-dwelling animals that inhabit tropical and sub-tropical shallow coastal areas.

During summer reproductive events known as “swarming,” females secrete a luminous green mucus-which often draws the attention of human seafarers-before releasing gametes into the water.

The bright glow attracts male fireworms, which also release gametes into the bright green cloud.
The precisely timed bioluminescent displays have been tracked like clockwork in Southern California, the Caribbean and Japan, peaking one to two days before each quarter moon phase, 30 to 40 minutes after sunset and lasting approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

Deheyn and Latz collected hundreds of specimens from San Diego’s Mission Bay for their study, allowing them to not only examine live organisms but also produce the fireworms’ luminous mucus for the first time in an experimental setting.

The achievement provided a unique perspective and framework for examining the biology behind the worm’s bioluminescent system.

A central finding is that the fireworms’ bioluminescent light appears to play a role beyond attracting mates.

The researchers found that juveniles produce bioluminescence as flashes, leading to a determination that the light also may serve as a defensive mechanism, intended to distract predators.

Through experiments that included hot and cold testing and oxygen depletion studies, Deheyn and Latz found that the bioluminescence is active in temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius.

Based on these tests, the researchers believe the chemical process responsible for the bioluminescence may involve a specific light-producing protein-also called a “photoprotein.”

Further identification and isolation will be pursued in future studies. (ANI)

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‘Halo effect’ causes formation of unusually bright patches of sky

April 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, March 31 (ANI): A new research has shown that unusually bright patches of sky, observed up to several kilometers away from clouds, are a result of the ‘halo effect’, which is light reflected off the cloud and bouncing off the particles in the air.

This seemingly innocuous finding could have a surprisingly big knock-on effect because it means there may be fewer cooling particles in the sky than previously thought, and that could change the way climate change is modeled.

According to a report in New Scientist, to discover why the air near clouds appears so aglow, Tamas Varnai and Alexander Marshak at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, used MODIS satellite observations from a piece of sky above the Atlantic just southeast of the UK.

To work out the amount of particles suspended in the air, Marshak’s team looked at the number of clear sky pixels picked up by MODIS and subtracted the reflection that was estimated to come from the planet’s surface and air molecules.

“This leaves us with the remaining reflection bouncing off aerosol particles, and so we can estimate their density,” explained Marshak.

Using this idea, it makes sense to assume that where the sky appears brighter, light must be being reflected off more or bigger aerosol particles.

In their current analysis, Marshak and Varnai found that the bright sky effect was stronger on the sunlit sides of clouds or when the clouds were denser.

Because more light reflects off a denser or sunlit cloud, this suggests that the clear sky brightness near clouds is caused by extra light reflecting off the clouds sideways and then scattering again between the particles in the clear sky area before reaching the satellite.

“It’s essentially extra energy bouncing off the clouds that enhances the glow of the clear sky,” he said.

This effect – called 3D radiative interaction – had been previously identified as a factor cranking up the sky’s brightness, but the new data elevates it to the most important factor.

This, in turn, means that many estimates of aerosol density may be plain wrong, because most clear sky analyses are close enough to clouds to be affected by the effect, according to Marshak.

“Overestimating aerosol density means that climate models will be wrong if they assume a certain amount of aerosol is needed, when in fact it is less,” said Varnai. (ANI)

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Scientists use ‘rogue’ laser waves to build better light sources

March 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 6 (ANI): Scientists are putting rogue laser waves to work in order to produce brighter, more stable white light sources, a breakthrough in optics that may pave the way for better clocks, faster cameras, and more powerful radar and communications technologies.

The rogue waves of light, rare and explosive flare-ups that are mathematically similar to their oceanic counterparts, have been developed by a group of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Rogue bursts of light were first spotted a year ago during the generation of a special kind of radiation called supercontinuum (SC).

SC light is created by shooting laser pulses into crystals and optical fibers.

Like the incandescent bulb in a lamp, it shines with a white light that spans an extremely broad spectrum. But unlike a bulb’s soft diffuse glow, SC light maintains the brightness and directionality of a laser beam.

This makes it suitable for a wide variety of applications – a fact recognized by the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded in part to scientists who used SC light to measure atomic transitions with extraordinary accuracy.

Despite more than 40 years of research, SC light has proven to be difficult to control and prone to instability.

Though rogue waves are not the cause of this instability, the UCLA researchers suspected that a better understanding of how noise in SC light triggers rogue waves could improve their control of this bright white light.

Rogue waves occur randomly in SC light and are so short-lived that the team had to employ a new technique just to spot them.

By tinkering with the initial laser pulses used to create SC light, Solli and his team discovered how to reproduce the rogue waves, harness them, and put them to work.

His results demonstrate that a weak burst of light, broadcast at the perfect “tickle spot,” produces a rogue wave on demand.

Instead of disrupting things, it stabilizes SC light, reducing fluctuations by at least 90 percent. The seed wave also decreases the amount of energy needed to produce a supercontinuum by 25 percent.

This new-and-improved white light could help to push forward a range of technologies.

Solli and Bahram Jalali are developing time-stretching devices that slow down electrical signals; such devices could be used in new optical analog-to-digital converters 1,000 times faster than current electronic versions.

These converters could help to overcome the current conversion-rate bottleneck that holds back advanced radar and communication technologies.

Stabilized SC light could also be used to create super-fast cameras for laboratory use or incorporated into optical clockworks. (ANI)

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Obama’s popularity on the decline: Fox News poll

February 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb.20 (ANI): The hype and frenzy around the US President Barack Obama seems to be lowering down as results of a Fox News opinion suggest.

According to the poll, one month after Obama’s taking over the charge, 60 percent of American’s approve of the job he is doing. It was 65 percent three weeks ago (27-28 January 2009).

Similarly, percentage of people disapproving from his work has also gone up from 16 percent to 26 percent.

The primary factor behind such trend can be ascribed to a decrease in approval and an increase in disapproval among Republicans, the Fox News said.

Percentage regarding views of Obama as a person also declined with 68 percent of Americans having a favorable opinion of him and 25 percent unfavorable.

“These poll results highlight just how quickly the glow of inauguration festivities fades as well as the fluid state of public opinion in this tumultuous time,” Opinion Dynamics Vice President, Chris Anderson said.

The poll also revealed that 64 percent of Americans believe in Obama’s ability to bring positive change, a decline of 11 percent from statistics if mid-January, which showed 75 percent of people saying Obama will be able to make significant positive change for the country.

When asked whether they would be watching Obama’s first presidential address to the nation, 54 percent of people replied in affirmative, while 28 percent of people said they were not sure about it. (ANI)

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Obama’s popularity on the decline: Fox News poll

February 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb.20 (ANI): The hype and frenzy around the US President Barack Obama seems to be lowering down as results of a Fox News opinion suggest.

According to the poll, one month after Obama’s taking over the charge, 60 percent of American’s approve of the job he is doing. It was 65 percent three weeks ago (27-28 January 2009).

Similarly, percentage of people disapproving from his work has also gone up from 16 percent to 26 percent.

The primary factor behind such trend can be ascribed to a decrease in approval and an increase in disapproval among Republicans, the Fox News said.

Percentage regarding views of Obama as a person also declined with 68 percent of Americans having a favorable opinion of him and 25 percent unfavorable.

How celebrities retain those curvy bodies

January 15, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan 15 (ANI): If you ever wondered what the slim looking celebrities do to maintain those curves, here’s your answer ‘they eat’.

When Eva Mendes, who looked simply dazzling in a strappy silver gown as she received the “Spirit of Elysium” Award, was asked how does she manage to look that great, pat came the reply ‘I eat’.

The ‘Hitch’ actress revealed that sadly she doesn’t have any magic tricks, and she just eats and works to keep that glow intact.

“My family always asks me how I do it and I wish I had a secret, but it’s just about hard work and eating right,” Fox News quoted Eva, as telling Tart.

“But I did enjoy some Cuban food over the holidays, you have to enjoy food,” Eva added.

Other Hollywood actress Sophia Bush too has a similar approach – ‘one should eat fat to lose fat’.

“I’m Italian so I eat a lot of olive oil which is good for the skin they say, and just drink a lot of water,” Bush said.

Meanwhile, Diane Lane, who dazed all with her curvy body in ‘Unfaithful’ even in her 40′s, says she just eats coupled with a little bit of Yoga whenever she gets nervous about achieving the perfect look.

“Being nervous helps (to get in shape). Some people eat when they get nervous but I stop, I just can’t eat when I’m nervous. That’s probably the only way,” Lane said. (ANI)

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The Top Five Most Memorable Inaugural Speeches of All Time reveale

January 11, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan 11(ANI): Former U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt’s third inaugural address on January 20, 1941 has topped a new list of the ‘Five Most Memorable Inaugural Speeches of All Time’.

Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1981, came second in the list, complied by Fox News.

John Kennedy’s inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1961, landed the third spot while Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, stood fourth.

Bill Clinton’s inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1993, rounded off the top five.

The top five most memorable inaugural speeches of all time are:

1. “Democracy is not dying. We know it because we have seen it revive — and grow. We know it cannot die — because it is built on the unhampered initiative of individual men and women joined together in a common enterprise — an enterprise undertaken and carried through by the free expression of a free majority. We know it because democracy alone, of all forms of government, enlists the full force of men’s enlightened will. We know it because democracy alone has constructed an unlimited civilization capable of infinite progress in the improvement of human life. We know it because, if we look below the surface, we sense it still spreading on every continent — for it is the most humane, the most advanced, and in the end the most unconquerable of all forms of human society.” — Franklin Roosevelt’s third inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1941.

2. “It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we’re too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We’re not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.” — Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1981.

3. “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility — I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it — and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.” — John Kennedy’s inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1961.

4. “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address on March 4, 1865.

5. “Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.” — Bill Clinton’s inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1993. (ANI)

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Obama’s popularity on the decline: Fox News poll

Obama’s popularity on the decline: Fox News poll

How celebrities retain those curvy bodies

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