Astronomers Uncover a Surprising Trend In Galaxy Evolution

Astronomers Uncover a Surprising Trend In Galaxy Evolution

  WASHINGTON -- A comprehensive study of hundreds of galaxies observed by the Keck telescopes in Hawaii and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed an unexpected pattern of change that extends back 8 billion years, or more than half the age of the universe.

"Astronomers thought disk galaxies in the nearby universe had settled into their present form by about 8 billion years ago, with little additional development since," said Susan Kassin, an astronomer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the study's lead researcher. "The trend we've observed instead shows the opposite, that galaxies were steadily changing over this time period."

Today, star-forming galaxies take the form of orderly disk-shaped systems, such as the Andromeda Galaxy or the Milky Way, where rotation dominates over other internal motions. The most distant blue galaxies in the study tend to be very different, exhibiting disorganized motions in multiple directions. There is a steady shift toward greater organization to the present time as the disorganized motions dissipate and rotation speeds increase. These galaxies are gradually settling into well-behaved disks.

Blue galaxies -- their color indicates stars are forming within them -- show less disorganized motions and ever-faster rotation speeds the closer they are observed to the present. This trend holds true for galaxies of all masses, but the most massive systems always show the highest level of organization.

Researchers say the distant blue galaxies they studied are gradually transforming into rotating disk galaxies like our own Milky Way. "Previous studies removed galaxies that did not look like the well-ordered rotating disks now common in the universe today," said co-author Benjamin Weiner, an astronomer at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "By neglecting them, these studies examined only those rare galaxies in the distant universe that are well-behaved and concluded that galaxies didn't change."

Rather than limit their sample to certain galaxy types, the researchers instead looked at all galaxies with emission lines bright enough to be used for determining internal motions. Emission lines are the discrete wavelengths of radiation characteristically emitted by the gas within a galaxy. They are revealed when a galaxy's light is separated into its component colors. These emission lines also carry information about the galaxy's internal motions and distance.

The team studied a sample of 544 blue galaxies from the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe 2 (DEEP2) Redshift Survey, a project that employs Hubble and the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Located between 2 billion and 8 billion light-years away, the galaxies have stellar masses ranging from about 0.3 percent to 100 percent of the mass of our home galaxy.

A paper describing these findings will be published Oct. 20 in The Astrophysical Journal. The Milky Way galaxy must have gone through the same rough-and-tumble evolution as the galaxies in the DEEP2 sample, and gradually settled into its present state as the sun and solar system were being formed.

In the past 8 billion years, the number of mergers between galaxies large and small has decreased sharply. So has the overall rate of star formation and disruptions of supernova explosions associated with star formation. Scientists speculate these factors may play a role in creating the evolutionary trend they observe. Now that astronomers see this pattern, they can adjust computer simulations of galaxy evolution until these models are able to replicate the observed trend. This will guide scientists to the physical processes most responsible for it.

The DEEP2 survey is led by Lick Observatory at the University of California at Santa Cruz in collaboration with the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., the University of Chicago and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. in Washington.

For further information visit: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/oct/HQ12-364_Hubble_Galaxy_Evolution.html

Article No.2

NASA must reinvest in nanotechnology research, according to new Rice University paper

The United States may lose its leadership role in space to other countries unless it makes research and development funding and processes - especially in nanotechnology - a renewed and urgent priority, according to a new paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The paper, "NASA's Relationship with Nanotechnology: Past, Present and Future Challenges," investigates how NASA has both guided and defunded cutting-edge nanotechnology development since 1996 at its own research facilities and in its collaborations with university scientists and laboratories.

The research was conducted by a team at Rice that included Baker Institute science and technology policy fellow Kirstin Matthews, current Rice graduate student Kenneth Evans and former graduate students Padraig Moloney and Brent Carey. The paper sheds light on a broad field that holds tremendous potential for improving space flight by reducing the weight of spacecraft and developing smaller and more accurate sensors.

This area of research, however, saw a dramatic cutback from 2004 to 2007, when NASA reduced annual nanotechnology R and D expenditures from $47 million to $20 million. NASA is the only U.S. federal agency to scale back investment in this area, the authors found, and it's part of an overall funding trend at NASA.From 2003 to 2010, while the total federal science research budget remained steady between $60 billion and $65 billion (in constant 2012 dollars), NASA's research appropriations decreased more than 75 percent, from $6.62 billion to $1.55 billion.

The authors argue that the agency should restructure, refocus and strengthen its R and D programs."The United States currently lacks a national space policy that ensures the continuity of research and programs that build on existing capabilities to explore space, and that has defined steps for human and robotic exploration of low-Earth orbit, the moon and Mars," Matthews said.

"With Congress and the president wrestling over the budget each year, it is vital that NASA present a clear plan for science and technology R and D that is linked to all aspects of the agency. This includes connecting R and D, with nanotechnology as a lead area, to applications related to the agency's missions."

The authors said that to effectively engage in new technology R and D, NASA should strengthen its research capacity and expertise by encouraging high-risk, high-reward projects to help support and shape the future of U.S. space exploration

"Failure to make these changes, especially in a political climate of flat or reduced funding, poses substantial risk that the United States will lose its leadership role in space to other countries - most notably China, Germany, France, Japan and Israel - that make more effective use of their R and D investments," Matthews said.

For further information visit: http://www.nanodaily.com/reports/NASA_must_reinvest_in_nanotechnology_research_according_to_new_Rice_University_paper_999.html

Article No.3

ISS Orbit to be adjusted for Next Spacecraft

Specialists of the Moscow Region-based Mission Control Center will on Wednesday carry out a maneuver to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station, a spokesman for the center said.

The readjustment will be carried out with the use of thrusters of the Russian Zvezda service module."The operation is expected to begin at 19:24 Moscow time [15:24 GMT]. The engines of the Zvezda module will operate for 19 seconds," the spokesman said adding that the station's average orbit altitude will be raised by one kilometer to 436 km (270.9 miles).

The reboost is intended to ensure the best conditions for the docking of the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the orbital outpost, slated for October 25.

The Soyuz TMA-06M will bring to the station a new crew, which comprises Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin, and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford.

Adjustments to the station's orbit are carried out regularly to compensate for the Earth's gravity and to facilitate the successful docking and undocking of spacecraft.

For further information visit: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/ISS_Orbit_to_be_Adjusted_for_Next_Spacecraft_999.html

Russia says 'very concerned' by new EU Iran sanctions

Russia says 'very concerned' by new EU Iran sanctions

Russia said Wednesday it is "very concerned" by new EU sanctions against Iran, which it claimed will work against talks on Tehran's contested nuclear programme."We are very concerned by the European Union's adoption on October 15 of a new series of unilateral sanctions against Iran," the foreign ministry said.

"We repeat: We do not consider unilateral sanctions, introduced by states or groups of states circumventing the UN Security Council, as legitimate instruments of international policy," the ministry said. The EU sanctions "undermine the resumption of negotiations with Iran, which in our opinion have registered progress," the ministry said, describing the measures as "unacceptable".

The six powers of the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany have been holding recent negotiations with Iran in a bid to halt its uranium enrichment work. But Western officials say that Iran is stonewalling in the negotiations.

"We are again forced to establish that the inconsiderate gestures of the European Union countries strike a sensitive blow to the unity of the group of six international negotiators," the foreign ministry said. It said Russia will continue to work hard to organise as quickly as possible the next round of talks between the six powers and Iran.

European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed a slew of tough new financial and trade sanctions against Iran aimed at forcing a breakthrough in the talks on Tehran's nuclear programme.

For further information visit: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russia_says_very_concerned_by_new_EU_Iran_sanctions_999.html

Article No.2

Iran won't capitulate in nuclear talks: Khamenei

Iran will not give in to "bullying" at the negotiating table with world powers over its disputed nuclear programme despite new economic sanctions, its supreme leader said on Tuesday. The West "keeps saying pressure against Iran is aimed at forcing the Islamic republic to return to the negotiating table" about the nuclear programme, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in remarks carried on state television.

"But when did we leave the table that now we need to return?" he asked during his visit to the northeastern province of North Khorasan."Their real objective is (forcing) the Iranian nation to surrender to their bullying at the negotiating table... (but) you are too weak to bring Iran to its knees," said Khamenei.

His remarks came a day after the European Union toughened sanctions against Tehran, targeting its dealings with Iran's banks, shipping and gas imports and banning trade in metals. Without directly mentioning the sanctions, Khamenei accused the European leaders of seeking to bully Iran."European officials are still stuck in the bullying mindset of the colonial 19th century, but they will face many problems in the face of the resistance of the Iranian nation and officials," he said.

The measures announced on Monday add to a series of sanctions from Europe, the United States and the UN Security Council designed to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear programme. Khamenei has termed the Western sanctions as "barbaric" and said they amount to "a war against a nation." But he has said Iran can overcome problems caused by the sanctions.

The West is involved in talks with Tehran on the nuclear impasse, but those negotiations have stalled for years. Efforts to restart them this year failed, despite three rounds of face-to-face talks between representatives of Iran and the five permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany. Western powers suspect Iran is using to the programme to develop atomic weapons capability. Iran denies that and says its nuclear activities are purely peaceful.

For further information visit: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_wont_capitulate_in_nuclear_talks_Khamenei_999.html

NASA's GPM Observatory Completes First Dry Run

NASA's GPM Observatory Completes First Dry Run

Engineers check on the GPM spacecraft after successful completion of its first comprehensive performance test. The silver disc and drum (center) is the GPM Microwave Imager, and the large block on the base is the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar. The tall golden antenna is the High Gain Antenna for communications. Image Credit: NASA 

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite went through its first complete comprehensive performance test (CPT), beginning on Oct. 4, 2012 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The testing ran twenty-four hours, seven days a week and lasted ten days as the entire spacecraft was put through its paces.

"This is the first time we've gotten to see the observatory all put together, running the way it's supposed to be running in flight," said CPT Test Lead Peter Gonzales, of NASA Goddard. "The CPT is the test that verifies that the observatory can do everything we designed it to do," he said. He spent months talking with each team that engineered the spacecraft's subsystems and two instruments, the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), to design the tests that would evaluate how the GPM spacecraft functions as a whole.

"When the observatory's flying on-orbit, all of the subsystems are operating together. We're not running a single subsystem in isolation," said Gonzales. "We want to see all the subsystems work together. We want to see if we're running a test on the RF [radio frequency communications] system, if it's being affected by the power system and vice versa."

In the Goddard clean room where the GPM Core Observatory was assembled, the spacecraft was oriented the way it would be if it were flying in space. It's about the size of a small fire truck but twice as heavy. During the test, the scanning antenna of the GMI, built by Ball Aerospace Corp. in Boulder, Colo., rotated in place as it would in orbit to collect data, the High Gain Antenna for communications inched around to orient toward a simulated receiver, and the mechanisms for the solar arrays, which were not attached, turned as if tracking the sun.

In the control room next door, more than 20 engineers occupied every workstation where telemetry data from the tests streamed by lightening fast on their screens. Each subsystem and instrument was represented by the engineers that built it to make sure everything was going as expected, including a team from NASA's partner the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that built the DPR and will launch the GPM Core Observatory on a Japanese H-IIA rocket from an island in southern Japan.

"There are some 30 odd units being tested," said Candace Carlisle, Deputy Project Manager for GPM at Goddard. Every subsystem on the observatory, from propulsion to the two instruments, went through the process of being turned on and/or deployed after launch and then run through every function, she said.

Each test was run more than once since almost all of GPM's systems and instruments are redundant in case of failure in orbit. The electronics have an A-side and a B-side with two identical computers, though only one is active at a time. If the A-side fails, or in some cases if even a single A-side subsystem fails, the B-side can take over.

The comprehensive test went well, said Gonzales. They found the expected small hiccups that are normal when an observatory is first brought online as a unit, but no hardware problems or anything that would prevent them from moving forward, he said.

As the test progressed, the engineering teams were learning the nuances of how the spacecraft runs, said Gonzales, which is essential to know before going into the thorough environmental testing scheduled to begin in November 2012. In environmental testing, the GPM Core Observatory will be pushed to its limits as it goes through the rigors of the extreme temperature changes and electromagnetic interference it might experience in space, and the vibration and noise levels it will encounter during launch. The results of the comprehensive testing will serve as a baseline to compare to the results of the environmental tests.

The GPM mission is an international satellite mission that will set a new standard for precipitation measurements from space. The observatory will collect advanced measurements of rain and snow that will be combined into a global data set every three hours. The GPM observatory is scheduled to launch in early 2014. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.

For further information visit: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/NASAs_GPM_Observatory_Completes_First_Dry_Run_999.html

Article No.2

Space Systems Loral-Built Satellite for EchoStar Delivered to Baikonur Launch Base

Space Systems/Loral has announced that the EchoStar XVI satellite, designed and built for EchoStar Corporation, has arrived at the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, where it is scheduled to be launched aboard a Proton Breeze M vehicle provided by International Launch Services (ILS).

"EchoStar and Space Systems/Loral share a commitment to high quality, high performance, and exceptional service," said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. "EchoStar XVI is another example of our capability to deliver satellites with the power to maximize high definition content delivery."

EchoStar XVI is a powerful direct broadcast satellite (DBS) that is fully leased to DISH Network for use in its Direct-to-Home (DTH) services in the United States. When launched, the satellite will be positioned at 61.5 degrees West longitude.

EchoStar XVI is the eighth satellite that SS/L has delivered to EchoStar. The 20-kilowatt satellite is based on the highly reliable Space Systems/Loral 1300 space-proven platform which provides the flexibility to support a broad range of applications and technology advances. The spacecraft is designed to deliver service for 15 years or more.

For further information visit: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Space_Systems_Loral_Built_Satellite_for_Echostar_Delivered_to_Baikonur_Launch_Base_999.html

Mapping the Universe in 3-D

Mapping the Universe in 3-D

Combining observations from Mauna Kea with data taken by telescopes in space, astronomers at the Institute for Astronomy (University of Hawaii at Manoa) and their collaborators have developed a technique that allows them to map collisions of giant galaxy clusters in three dimensions.

Astronomers studying the solar system are fortunate. Their targets move, rotate, obscure, and deflect each other on timescales of hours, months, or years, allowing researchers to see them from different angles.

Scientists exploring the distant universe are at a disadvantage in this regard. Most of their targets, such as black holes, galaxies, or clusters of galaxies, are so huge that it takes tens or hundreds of millions of years for an object to present us with a noticeably changed view.

"Being unable to see these large-scale structures from different angles makes it very difficult to figure out their three-dimensional shapes, let alone their relative motions and interactions," explains Harald Ebeling, IfA astronomer and an expert on galaxy clusters.

"All we see in our images is a 2-D projection of a 3-D structure onto the plane of the sky."Luckily, when two galaxy clusters collide, astronomers can make use of a clever combination of observations to make the invisible visible. In three recent studies, Ebeling and an international team of collaborators created 3-D models of merging galaxy clusters.

Creating these models requires mapping all the components of a cluster: the galaxies that we see in visible light, the hot gas permeating the cluster that emits X-rays, and the invisible dark matter that can be detected only because its gravity distorts the images of objects behind the cluster.

To collect all these data, Ebeling's team used three world-class observatories: the Mauna Kea Observatories (specifically, the Keck I telescope of the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope), the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Combining the data to create a credible 3-D model of a complicated system like a merging cluster still involves a lot of physical interpretation. Admits Li-Yen Hsu, IfA graduate student and lead author of one of the three studies, "Our understanding of the shape and motion of the cluster kept evolving as we added more and more observational evidence. It's a little like solving a jigsaw puzzle with half of the pieces missing."

Eventually, enough pieces of the puzzle were collected to unravel, for instance, the geometry of MACS J0717.5+3745, a giant triple merger of clusters fed by a filament of dark matter that extends 60 million light-years into space. The team was also able to measure the mass of the entire structure and found that filaments may contain more than half of the mass of the entire universe.

Two other cluster mergers, examined in studies led by Hsu and fellow IfA graduate student I-Ting Ho, turned out to proceed along trajectories that are much more complex than suggested by the systems' appearance in projection on the sky. By revealing these objects' 3-D geometry, scientists can now correct for projection effects and determine the true properties of merging clusters.

The results of these 3-D reconstructions of some of the most massive structures in the universe will appear in three articles to be published by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society:

For further information visit: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Mapping_The_Universe_In_3_D_999.html

Air Conditioning Consumes One Third of Peak Electric Consumption in the summer

Air Conditioning Consumes One Third of Peak Electric Consumption in the summer

— Air conditioning in homes may account for up to one third of electricity use during periods in the summer when the most energy is required in large cities, according to a study carried out by Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spanish National Research Council -- CSIC). The research attempts to determine not only the amount of energy that is consumed, but also its environmental impact.

The aim of the research, which was carried out by scientists from the Unidad Asociada de Ingeniería de Sistemas Energéticos (Energy Systems Engineering Unit) CSIC-UC3M, was to quantify the energy consumed by residential air conditioning in a city and to determine how much energy could be saved by improving the efficiency of the equipment.

"We have seen that one third of the energy consumed during peak electrical use in Madrid could be due to air conditioning," comments el UC3M Professor Amancio Moreno, of the Department of Thermal and Fluids Engineering. "This means that if we can improve the efficiency of the air conditioners, or change the source of energy that they use, we could lower peak electrical demand, which would be very interesting information for electric companies and for reshaping the entire electrical grid in general," he concludes.

In order to carry out this study, which was recently published in the scientific journal Energy, the researchers simulated electrical consumption in the Autonomous Community of Madrid. To do this, they used data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (National Institute of Statistics) on the number of households and the number of climate control and air-conditioning systems installed in the Community. Afterwards, based on the seasonal consumption of the machines, they extrapolated the level of consumption by the entire population. The researchers point out that this method can be adapted for use in other regions.

According to the authors of this study, it would be very interesting to determine the levels of carbon dioxide derived from energy consumption due to air conditioning on a national scale. The truth is that this type of climate control presents a wide margin for improvement, since "free air conditioning is available, using machines that cool using only solar energy," points out Professor Amancio Moreno. "If we could lower electrical energy consumption through the use of this new generation of cooling systems, we would be able to lower emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the gasses that produce the greenhouse effect," he concludes.

To this end, UC3M's Energy Systems Engineering research group is experimenting with heat pumps and absorption machines that improve the efficiency of climate control systems using solar energy. "We have a heat pump that works more efficiently when solar energy is available," Prof. Moreno declares. Another line of research they are working on involves attempting to adapt consumption to demand, so that when less cooling is needed, the machine consumes less. "It is not easy to do this because the machines usually consume a lot when they are not at their optimum performance level, so variable flow techniques must be applied," the engineer explains. In fact, in Madrid, domestic air conditioners function at an average of 50 percent capacity during the summer

"This gives us the idea that we are buying a machine that is oversized and that it is only going to work well during power peaks, because it is going to be working at partial load and a lower performance level the rest of the time," Moreno comments. "Our objective," he concludes, "is to improve the performance at that partial level because that is how we will be able to substantially lower seasonal consumption."

For further information visit: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022080408.htm

Article No.2

Salt Power: Watt's Next in Rechargeable Batteries?

— Reza Shahbazian-Yassar thinks sodium might be the next big thing in rechargeable batteries. Now, the gold standard in the industry is the lithium ion battery, which can be recharged hundreds of times and works really well. Its only problem is that it is made with lithium, which is not cheap. It could get even more expensive if more electric vehicles powered with lithium ion batteries hit the road and drive up demand.

"Some people think lithium will be the next oil," says Shahbazian-Yassar, an associate professor of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics at Michigan Technological University. Sodium may be a good alternative. "After lithium, it's the most attractive element to be used in batteries," Shahbazian-Yassar said. It's also cheap and abundant; seawater is full of it.

It has just one drawback: sodium atoms are big, about 70 percent larger in size than lithium atoms. "When the atoms are too big, that's problematic," says Shahbazian-Yassar, because they can cause a battery's electrodes to wear out faster. "Imagine bringing an elephant through the door into my office. It's going to break down the walls."

Before a long-lasting rechargeable sodium battery can be developed, scientists need to better understand these challenges and develop solutions. With a $417,000 National Science Foundation grant, Shahbazian-Yassar is leading that effort at Michigan Tech. "We have an opportunity to tackle some of the fundamental issues relating to charging and discharging of batteries right here," he said. "We have a unique tool that lets us observe the inside of a battery."

Using a transmission electron microscope, Shahbazian-Yassar and his team can peer inside and see how a battery is charging and discharging at the atomic level. "We will study these fundamental reactions and find out what materials and electrodes will do a better job hosting the sodium."

Sodium ion batteries would not have to be as good as lithium ion batteries to be competitive, Shahbazian-Yassar notes. They would just need to be good enough to satisfy the consumer. And they could make electric cars more affordable, and thus more attractive. Plus, they could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, particularly if the batteries were charged using renewable energy sources. That would lead to two laudable goals: greater energy independence and less pollution worldwide.

For further information visit: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121018151942.htm

Science of Global Climate Modeling Confirmed By Discoveries on Mars

Science of Global Climate Modeling Confirmed By Discoveries on Mars

Scientific modeling methods that predicted climate change on Earth have been found to be accurate on Mars as well, according to a paper presented at an international planetary sciences conference Tuesday.

An international team of researchers from the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, working with French colleagues, found that an unusual concentration of glacial features on Mars matches predictions made by global climate computerized models, in terms of both age and location.

PSI Senior Scientist William K. Hartmann led the team, which included Francois Forget (Universite Paris), who did the Martian climate modeling, and Veronique Ansan and Nicolas Mangold (Universite de Nantes) and Daniel Berman (PSI), all of whom analyzed spacecraft measurements regarding the glaciers."Some public figures imply that modeling of global climate change on Earth is 'junk science,' but if climate models can explain features observed on other planets, then the models must have at least some validity," said team leader Hartmann.

Hartmann presented the report, "Science of Global Climate Modeling: Confirmation from Discoveries on Mars," at the annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Reno, Nev.The scientific team reached their conclusions by combining four different aspects of Martian geological mapping and Martian climate science in recent years.

They noted that the climate models, the presence of glaciers, the ages of the glacial surface layers, and radar confirmation of ice in the same general area all gave consistent results - that the glaciers formed in a specific region of Mars, due to unusual climate circumstances, just as indicated by the climate model.

The work has a long background. As early as 1993, astronomers analyzed the changing tilt of Mars's rotational axis and found that during high-tilt Martian episodes, the axis tilt can exceed 45 degrees. Under this extreme condition, the summer hemisphere is strongly tilted toward the Sun, and Mars's polar ice cap in that hemisphere evaporates, increasing water vapour in the Martian air, thus increasing the chances for snowfall in the dark, cold, winter hemisphere. The last such episodes happened on Mars 5 million to 20 million years ago.

By 2001-2006, various French and American researchers applied the global climate computer models to study this effect. The computer programs were originally developed for planet Earth to estimate climate effects, from hurricane paths to CO2 greenhouse warming.

Planetary scientists simply applied the Martian topography, atmosphere, and gravity, in order to run the computer calculations for Mars. The calculations indicated a strong concentration of winter snow and ice in a mid-latitude southern region of Mars, just east of a huge Martian impact basin named Hellas.

At the same time, the PSI scientists independently discovered an unusual concentration of glacial features in a 40-mile-wide crater named "Greg" centered in the same region. Their analysis showed that the surface layers of the glaciers formed at the same time as the predicted climate extremes, about 5 million to 20 million years ago.

"The bottom line is that the global climate models indicate that the last few intense deposits of ice occurred about 5 million to 15 million years ago, virtually centered on Greg crater, and that's just where the spacecraft data reveal glaciers whose surface layers date from that time," Hartmann said.

"If global climate models indicate specific concentration of ice-rich features where and when we actually see them on a distant planet, then climate modeling should not be sarcastically dismissed. Our results provide an important, teachable refutation of the attacks on climate science on our home planet."

For further information visit: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Science_Of_Global_Climate_Modeling_Confirmed_By_Discoveries_On_Mars_999.html

Article No.2

Climate Change May Alter Amphibian Evolution

— Most of the more than 6,000 species of frogs in the world lay their eggs in water. But many tropical frogs lay their eggs out of water. This behavior protects the eggs from aquatic predators, such as fish and tadpoles, but also increases their risk of drying out. Justin Touchon, post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, discovered that climate change in Panama may be altering frogs' course of evolution.

By analyzing long-term rainfall data collected by the Panama Canal Authority, Touchon discovered that rainfall patterns are changing just as climate-change models predict."Over the past four decades, rainfall has become more sporadic during the wet season," said Touchon. "The number of rainy days decreased, and the number of gaps between storms increased."

The eggs of the pantless treefrog, Dendropsophus ebraccatus, are extremely susceptible to drying. The embryos die within a day when there is no rain. Heavy rains trigger breeding, so as storms become sporadic, the chance of rain within a day of being laid decrease and so does egg survival.

As weather patterns have changed, the advantage of laying eggs out of water has decreased, not only for pantless tree frogs but potentially for many species. "Pantless tree frogs can switch between laying eggs in water or on leaves, so they may weather the changes we are seeing in rainfall better than other species that have lost the ability to lay eggs in water," said Touchon. "Being flexible in where they put their eggs gives them more options and allows them to make decisions in a given habitat that will increase the survival of their offspring."

For further information visit: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121025095539.htm

Reclaiming Rare Earths: Improving Process to Recycle Rare-Earth Materials

Reclaiming Rare Earths: Improving Process to Recycle Rare-Earth Materials

— Recycling keeps paper, plastics, and even jeans out of landfills. Could recycling rare-earth magnets do the same? Perhaps, if the recycling process can be improved.Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Ames Laboratory are working to more effectively remove the neodymium, a rare earth element, from the mix of other materials in a magnet. Initial results show recycled materials maintain the properties that make rare-earth magnets useful.

The current rare earth recycling research builds on Ames Laboratory's decades of rare-earth processing experience. In the 1990s, Ames Lab scientists developed a process that uses molten magnesium to remove rare earths from neodymium-iron-boron magnet scrap. Back then, the goal was to produce a mixture of magnesium and neodymium because the neodymium added important strength to the alloy, rather than separate out high-purity rare earths because, at the time, rare earth prices were low.

But rare earth prices increased ten-fold between 2009 and 2011 and supplies are in question. Therefore, the goal of today's rare-earth recycling research takes the process one step farther."Now the goal is to make new magnet alloys from recycled rare earths. And we want those new alloys to be similar to alloys made from unprocessed rare-earth materials," said Ryan Ott, the Ames Laboratory scientist leading the research. "It appears that the processing technique works well. It effectively removes rare earths from commercial magnets."

Ott's research team also includes Ames Laboratory scientist Larry Jones and is funded through a work for others agreement with the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology. The research group is developing and testing the technique in Ames Lab's Materials Preparation Center, with a suite of materials science tools supported by the DOE Office of Science."We start with sintered, uncoated magnets that contain three rare earths: neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium," said Ott. "Then we break up the magnets in an automated mortar and pestle until the pieces are 2-4 millimetres long.

Next, the tiny magnet pieces go into a mesh screen box, which is placed in a stainless-steel crucible. Technicians then add chunks of solid magnesium. A radio frequency furnace heats the material. The magnesium begins to melt, while the magnet chunks remain solid. "What happens then is that all three rare earths leave the magnetic material by diffusion and enter the molten magnesium," said Ott. "The iron and boron that made up the original magnet are left behind."

The molten magnesium and rare-earth mixture is cast into an ingot and cooled. Then they boil off the magnesium, leaving just the rare earth materials behind.

"We've found that the properties of the recycled rare earths compare very favourably to ones from unprocessed materials," said Ott. "We're continuing to identify the ideal processing conditions."The next step is optimizing the extraction process. Then the team plans to demonstrate it on a larger scale.

"We want to help bridge the gap between the fundamental science and using this science in manufacturing," said Ott. "And Ames Lab can process big enough amounts of material to show that our rare-earth recycling process works on a large scale."

For further information visit: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121024175520.htm

 

Gene That's Usually Bad News Loses Its Punch If You Live to Your 90s

— A gene linked to the risk of developing Alzheimer's, heart disease and diabetes becomes less important to quality of life once people hit their 90s, a Mayo Clinic study shows. At that point, good friends and a positive attitude have a bigger impact, the researchers say.

The findings are published this month in the Journal of American Medical Directors Association.

Researchers used the National Institutes of Health-supported Rochester Epidemiology Project, a database of patient records in Olmsted County, Minn., to find people ages 90 to 99 living on their own or in long-term care. The 121 participants completed an interview, a physical exam and a quality-of-life questionnaire. Participants were divided into groups based on their cognitive function, to sort out the effects of age and disease on well-being, and blood samples were taken for genotyping.

Researchers discovered that those who carried the gene in question, known as ApoE4, were no worse off than others in the study."We found if people had good physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being, more social connectedness, and if they perceived themselves to have better coping skills, they felt they had better quality of life," says co-author Maria Lapid, M.D., a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist.

"The study shows that the ApoE4 genotype doesn't determine what your quality of life will be, and that, regardless of your gender, environmental factors play a significant role in your physical, emotional, spiritual, and social well-being," she says. "You can have good quality of life regardless of this gene."The median age of those studied was 93; 87 percent were women. Those reporting poorer quality of life tended to be men, for reasons that are unclear, and people who experienced pain. The Alzheimer's Association, National Institute on Aging, and Robert H. and Clarice Smith and Abigail Van Buren Alzheimer's Disease Research Program of the Mayo Foundation funded the study.

For further information visit: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121025105739.htm

 

 

NASA to Preview Upcoming Space Station Spacewalk to Repair Ammonia Leak

NASA to Preview Upcoming Space Station Spacewalk to Repair Ammonia Leak 

 HOUSTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. CDT (2 p.m. EDT) Friday, Oct. 26, to preview an upcoming spacewalk involving U.S. and Japanese astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The news conference will be broadcast live on NASA Television from the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Media questions will be taken by telephone and from other participating NASA locations.

Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA and Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will venture outside the space station Nov. 1 to repair an ammonia leak on one of the station's port-side radiators. Ammonia is circulated through the station's external thermal control systems to keep the electronics and other systems cool.

The Oct. 26 news conference briefers are:

-- Michael Suffredini, International Space Station program manager

-- Mike Lammers, NASA flight director, Johnson Space Center

-- Allison Bolinger, spacewalk officer, Johnson Space Center

To participate by phone, media representatives must call the Johnson newsroom 15 minutes before the briefing at 281-483-5111. Priority will be given to journalists participating in person; questions by phone will be taken as time permits.

NASA Television will provide live coverage of the spacewalk beginning at 6:15 a.m. CDT Nov. 1. The spacewalk is scheduled to start at 7:15 a.m. and last approximately 6 hours and 30 minutes. This will be the seventh spacewalk for Williams and the third for Hoshide. It will be the 166th spacewalk in support of space station assembly and maintenance.

For further information visit: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/oct/SHQ_M12-205_ISS_EVA_Preview.html