Luciole Press Blog

Life-Enabling Molecules Spotted in Orion Nebula

2010-03-13T13:51:00Z

image: HERE

Life-Enabling Molecules Spotted in Orion Nebula

SPACE.com Staff
SPACE.com
Fri Mar 12, 6:47 am ET

The chemical fingerprints of potentially life-building molecules have been detected in the Orion nebula by Europe's Herschel Space Observatory.

The Orion nebula is a nearby stellar nursery, brimming with gas, dust and infant stars. It is known to be one of the most prolific chemical factories in space, although the full extent of its chemistry and the pathways for molecule formation are not well understood.

Researchers have used one of Herschel's instruments, which looks at the cosmos in the far infrared wavelengths of light, to provide more insight into how organic molecules form in space.

By sifting through the pattern of spikes in Orion nebula's light signature, or spectrum, astronomers have identified a few common molecules that are precursors to life-enabling molecules, including water, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, methanol, dimethyl ether, hydrogen cyanide, sulfur oxide and sulfur dioxide. Each spike in the spectrum corresponds to a particular molecule.

"This HIFI spectrum, and the many more to come, will provide a virtual treasure trove of information regarding the overall chemical inventory and on how organics form in a region of active star formation. It harbors the promise of a deep understanding of the chemistry of space once we have the full spectral surveys available," said Edwin Bergin of the University of Michigan and the principal investigator of the HEXOS Key Program on Herschel.

Because of Herschel's unique infrared observing abilities, this new spectrum is already an improvement on previous one's taken of the Orion nebula.

"We obtained this spectrum in a few hours and it already beats any other spectrum, at any other wavelength, ever taken of Orion," said Frank Helmich, Herschel HIFI principal investigator of SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research.

Built by the European Space Agency, Herschel launched in May 2009 on a mission to scan the universe in the far-infrared range of the spectrum. The observatory is expected to last until 2012 and has the largest single mirror ever built for a space telescope.

Original Story: Life-Enabling Molecules Spotted in Orion Nebula

Article: HERE

Photo: a giant sculpture of a stockinged leg at The Magnificent Innovations for Women exhibition in Budapest

2010-03-13T13:42:00Z

A spectator walks by a giant sculpture of a stockinged leg at The Magnificent Innovations for Women exhibition in Budapest

HERE

Ultraviolet rays shine new light on masterpieces by 14th century artist Giotto di Bondone, considered one of the founders of the Italian Renaissance

2010-03-11T03:27:00Z

The original Giotto painting (left) and the same artwork under ultra-violet rays, exposing greater details, in the Peruzzi Chapel at the Santa Croce Church in Florence

How ultraviolet rays are shining new light on masterpieces by founder of Italian Renaissance

09th March 2010

Restoration experts have used ultra violet rays to shed new light on masterpieces by one of the Western World's greatest painters.

The technique was used on works by the 14th century artist Giotto di Bondone, considered by critics to be one of the founders of the Italian Renaissance. It unveiled rich original details of Giotto's paintings in the Peruzzi Chapel in Florence's Santa Croce church that have been hidden for centuries. 'We have uncovered a secret Giotto,' said Isabella Lapi Ballerini, head of Florence's Opificio delle Pietre Dure, one of the world's most prestigious art restoration laboratories. Last year, more than a dozen restorers and researchers began an ambitious project of 'non-invasive diagnostics' to ascertain the condition of the 12-metre-high chapel, which Giotto painted in about 1320. The aim of the study, partly funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles, was to gather information on the 1,830 square feet chapel to use as a road map and "hospital chart" for a future restoration. During the project, which lasted four months, restorers working on three stories of steel scaffolding noted that while viewing the paintings under ultra-violet light, they were able see amazing details not visible to the naked eye.

The original Giotto is pale in comparison to how it would have looked like more than 600 years ago. But bltra violet light has brought out some of the extraordinary details

WHO WAS GIOTTO?

Giotto di Bondone was an outstanding painter, sculptor, and architect,who dealt mostly with religious subjects. He was born in a village near Florence in about 1266. His artistic talents were discovered by Cimabue, a well-known Florentine painter.

His earliest known works is a series of frescoes (paintings on still-wet plaster) on the life of St Francis in the church at Assisi. One story about Giotto tells how he sent Pope Boniface VIII a perfect circle painted with a single brushstroke when asked for samples of his work. The Pope was apparently very impressed.

Giotto married and had six children. He counted the King Robert of Naples as a good friend and was a rich man. In 1334, the city of Florence honoured Giotto with the title of Magnus Magister (Great Master) and appointed him city architect and superintendent of public works. He died in 1337.

'It was something really astonishing,' said Cecilia Frosinini, co-ordinator of the project that studied the scenes in the lives of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. 'We knew we could get some very interesting results from our scientific diagnostics but when we looked under ultra-violet light, all of a sudden all these very faint paintings that were ruined by old restorations took on a new life.'

Giotto's paintings in the lance-shaped chapel are believed to have had a major influence on Michelangelo, who was born nearly 140 years after Giotto died and who painted the Sistine Chapel in the early 1500s. Today's restorers are seeing the details Michelangelo saw when he admired the paintings by Giotto, considered one of the artists who sowed the seeds for the Italian Renaissance.

'The scenes are again three dimensional ... we were able to see all the chiaroscuro effects,' she said. 'There were bodies under the garments ... they became three dimensional, you could see the folds of the garments, the expressions of the faces.' In the scene where God is accepting John the Evangelist into heaven, the wrinkles in John's forehead, the threads of his beard, the whites of his eyes and God's welcoming gaze appear like fleeting but powerful visions. The Peruzzi Chapel was immortalised in E.M. Forster's 'Room with a View,' in the scene where the young Lucy Honeychurch is shown the Giottos by George Emerson, her future husband. Commissioned by the noble Peruzzi family, it was whitewashed in the early 1700s to make way for a new chapel design.

But when restorers removed the white paint in 1840 they used the techniques of their times, including harsh solvents and steel wool pads that blunted and homogenised the paintings, leaving them looking traumatised.

A restorer uses an ultra-violet light to expose greater details on a Giotto painting. However, the light can not be used long-term as it could destroy the artwork

Giotto painted the Peruzzi Chapel towards the end of his life in 1313

The 19th century "restorers" painted the parts of the Giottos that had been damaged, adding their own brushstrokes to highlight what was no longer visible from the ground. In 1958, a restoration removed what the 19th century restorers added, leaving what remained of the original Giottos and what visitors to the church see today with their naked eyes. Even though they are often referred to as frescoes, the Peruzzi scenes were actually painted 'a secco,' or on dry plaster, unlike his famous frescos in the Bardi Chapel, which is also in Santa Croce, or his works in St Francis in Assisi. He painted the Peruzzi Chapel towards the end of his life and some experts believe he was striving for a different effect than he achieved with the fresco technique, in which the painting is done while the plaster is still wet. 'It allowed him to obtain something more rich in terms of colours, of decorations, but over time, dry painting is very fragile,' Ms Frossini said.

The Giotto paintings were commissioned for the Peruzzi Chapel in the Santa Croce Church in Florence

Unfortunately, the lush details will remain fleeting forever. They are only visible when they are bathed in ultra-violet light and subjecting them to such constant bombardment would be not only impractical but harmful. 'I hope we can find enough funds to have a complete ultra-violet mapping of the whole chapel in order to build some kind of virtual software to share all that we have discovered with the general public,' Ms Frossini said.

Article: HERE

Catastrophic event in early Universe could explain why galaxies like our Milky Way stop growing

2010-03-11T03:20:00Z

An artist's representation showing outflow from a supermassive black hole inside the middle of a galaxy. Scientists believe debris from such a black hole or winds from dying stars caused a huge surge of energy that scattered star-forming gasses

Catastrophic event in early Universe could explain why galaxies like our Milky Way stop growing
10th March 2010

A 'catastrophic event' halted the birth of new stars in an infant galaxy 10 billion years ago, scientists revealed today. They believe this may explain why early giant galaxies similar to our own Milky Way didn't just keep on expanding after they had formed. The team from Durham University, observed the massive galaxy, called SMM J1237+6203, as it would have appeared just three billion years after the Big Bang when the Universe was a quarter of its present age. According to their findings the galaxy exploded in a series of blasts trillions of times more powerful than any caused by an atomic bomb. The blasts happened every second for millions of years, the scientists said. The explosions scattered the gas needed to form new stars by helping it escape the gravitational pull of the galaxy, effectively regulating its development. They believe the huge surge of energy was caused by either the outflow of debris from the galaxy's black hole or from powerful winds generated by dying stars called supernovae. The research, funded by the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society, is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Observations of the galaxy, in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, were carried out using the Gemini Observatory here on Earth. The Durham-led team hopes the finding could increase understanding about the formation and development of galaxies. Lead author Dr Dave Alexander from Durham University, said: 'We are looking into the past and seeing a catastrophic event that essentially switched off star formation and halted the growth of a typical massive galaxy in the local Universe. 'Effectively the galaxy is regulating its growth by preventing new stars from being born. Theorists had predicted that huge outflows of energy were behind this activity, but it's only now that we have seen it in action. 'We believe that similar huge outflows are likely to have stopped the growth of other galaxies in the early Universe by blowing away the materials needed for star formation.' The Durham-led team now plans to study other massive star-forming galaxies in the early Universe to see if they display similar characteristics.

Article: HERE

In paying for sex changes, Cuba breaks from past

2010-03-11T03:13:00Z

Wed Mar 10, 5:46 AM ET

Previous 53 of 464 Next

In this March 5, 2010 photo, Yiliam Gonzalez, second from right, and her mother Janeth Anchia, left, visit with neighbors in Havana. Gonzalez is one of eight transsexuals to undergo a sex change under Cuba's universal health care system.

(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Wed Mar 10, 5:44 AM ET

Previous 59 of 464 Next

In this March 5, 2010 photo, Yiliam Gonzalez has her hair done by a stylist in Havana. Gonzalez is one of eight transsexuals to undergo a sex change under Cuba's universal health care system.

(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

In paying for sex changes, Cuba breaks from past

By Will Weissert, Associated Press Writer
Wed Mar 10, 12:52 pm EST

HAVANA – Looking in the mirror used to make Yiliam Gonzalez sick to her stomach.

"I would see myself, and my body didn't match who I was," said the 28-year-old wedding pianist, who went by William before receiving a sex change under Cuba's universal health care system.

Gonzalez is living proof of a small but remarkable transformation for the rugged revolution of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and a band of ever-macho, bearded rebels, who long punished gays and transsexuals — but now are paying for sex changes.

Standing six feet (183 centimeters) tall, with shoulder-length blond hair, heavy makeup and an ID card still bearing a man's name, Gonzalez underwent the procedure in 2008. She was one of eight Cubans to do so through a program begun in 1988 — then suspended for two decades, after many complained the communist government had better ways to spend its scarce resources.

The operations have begun anew under President Raul Castro's daughter Mariela, Cuba's top gay-rights activist, and 22 more transsexuals are waiting to have it performed.

Mariela Castro says the government is moving cautiously, doing only a few per year.

"There has been a lot of resistance because homophobia remains strong in our culture," she said at a recent conference on sexuality.

In the 1960s, Cuba was ferociously anti-gay, firing homosexuals from state jobs, imprisoning them or sending them to work camps. Many fled into exile. Transsexuals, though not gay, were considered the same.

While gay jokes remain as common as shots of strong espresso in Cuba, government media campaigns now discourage homophobia. Hundreds of gay Cubans marched down Havana's spiffy "La Rampa" boulevard last spring, just a year after authorities had forbidden a gay-pride parade.

"I'd like to think that discrimination against homosexuals is a problem that is being overcome," former President Fidel Castro said during a series of interviews with French journalist Ignacio Ramonet between 2003 and 2005. "Old prejudices and narrow-mindedness will increasingly be things of the past."

Mariela Castro has seen to it that the state formally recognizes transsexuals. A state-trained kindergarten teacher with a degree in sexuality, she runs the National Sexual Education Center. It spent years lobbying communist officials, who finally agreed to lift bans on sex changes in 2008 — though the resolution was never made public to avoid unwanted attention.

"These processes of negotiation are sometimes done very quietly," Mariela Castro said, "so as not to stir up ghosts."

She now says that financial concerns in the past were simply used to hide prejudices.

That's not unusual, said Denise Leclair, executive director of the Washington-based International Foundation for Gender Education.

"In many countries people complain bitterly. It's primarily driven by religious beliefs," Leclair said.

Religious objections weren't a problem in Cuba, which was officially atheist for decades. Instead, many Cubans claimed their country was too poor to pay for the procedure, writing letters to the editor in the Communist Party newspaper Granma after the first successful Cuban surgery was announced in 1988.

Leclair said a male-to-female change can cost $10,000 to $25,000 in the U.S., or up to four times higher than that, depending on all the procedures performed. About a dozen American doctors do between 1,000 and 2,000 such operations a year, she said.

Canada, Britain, France and Brazil offer government-financed sex changes, among other countries.

San Francisco began paying for sex changes for city and county employees in 2001, and Fort Worth, Texas, is considered following suit. Some large employers, including IBM and the University of California, negotiated contracts with their private insurers to cover the procedure known medically as "sexual reassignment surgery," and other insurance companies have begun covering at least part of the treatments.

Still, Leclair said most of the largest U.S. insurers don't cover the surgery.

Cuba won't say how much its sex change costs, but doctors earn state salaries worth an average of about $20 per month.

Cuban doctors received training from visiting Belgians on how to do the surgeries, and doctors from both countries were present during the procedures.

Despite a global recession that has hit Cuba especially hard, prompting Raul Castro to announce unspecified cuts in health-care spending, his daughter says the state can't afford not to perform the surgeries.

Gonzalez said opponents "don't know what a person who is transsexual suffers. It's a prison you can't get out of."

Gonzalez knew she was different almost from birth. By 4, she was already so partial to girl's clothing and toys that her parents put her in therapy. The government formally designated her transsexual in 2000. Six years later, Mariela Castro won approval to restart the procedures, and Gonzalez was among the first recipients.

Gonzalez refused to say the exact date of the operation or how she was chosen. Her procedure took eight hours.

Leclair said 40 percent of transsexuals become suicidal. But Gonzalez says her boyfriend of seven years kept her from getting depressed.

"He always saw the woman in me and accepted me how I was," she said, "but we couldn't have sex in a complete way until now."

Gonzalez can't get married, however, as she is still waiting for permission to change the name on her government ID card. Until then, she also cannot work in another wedding venue, though she would like to, or go back to school because her name no longer fits the woman she has become.

It's a problem that Cuban Olivia Lam knows all too well. She was born Alfonso Manuel but has been waiting for sex-change surgery for two years.

While her name has not been changed, authorities allowed her to take a new picture for her ID card — one where she is dressed as a woman.

"The picture is me, even if the name is not," said Lam, a gregarious 43-year-old who waves her arms when she talks, making her ever-present hoop earrings dance on her earlobes.

Both women say they think the delay in getting ID cards is because of the slow Cuban bureaucracy and not any kind of government resistance.

Lam, who works as a hairdresser out of her two-room apartment, first began cross-dressing at 21. Though she has been formally classified as transsexual since 2008, she has no way of knowing when — or if — approval for sex-change surgery will come.

And though the government now accepts her, Lam acknowledged that getting her own family to has not been easy.

"I don't think any parent wants their son to be different," she said, "but they understand that you're not like this because you want to be."

Article: HERE

Wed Mar 10, 5:45 AM ET

Previous 58 of 464 Next

In this March 5, 2010 photo, Yiliam Gonzalez plays the piano at a neighbors home in Havana. Gonzalez, a 28-year-old wedding pianist, is one of eight transsexuals to undergo a sex change under Cuba's universal health care system.

(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Wed Mar 10, 5:46 AM ET

Previous 54 of 464 Next

\In this March 5, 2010 photo, Yiliam Gonzalez, left, speaks with her mother Janeth Anchia as they clean dishes in a friend's home in Havana. Gonzalez is one of eight transsexuals to undergo a sex change under Cuba's universal health care system.

(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Wed Mar 10, 5:46 AM ET

Previous 55 of 464 Next

(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Wed Mar 10, 5:45 AM ET

Previous 56 of 464 Next

In this March 4, 2010 photo, Yiliam Gonzalez attends a ceremony at the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Havana. Gonzalez is one of eight Cubans to undergo a government sex change as part a program that began in 1998 provided by Cuba's universal health care system.

(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Wed Mar 10, 5:47 AM ET

Previous 52 of 464 Next

In this March 8, 2010 photo, Yiliam Gonzalez shows her ID showing her former name William, in Havana. Yiliam is currently waiting for permission to legally change her name to Yiliam. Gonzalez is one of eight Cubans to undergo a government sex change as part a program that began in 1998 provided by Cuba's universal health care system.

(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal

2010-03-11T03:07:00Z

Wed Mar 10, 3:14 PM ET

Previous 12 of 36 Next

Marion Stegman Hodgson of Ft. Worth Texas, is seen in the front row on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 10, 2010, before a ceremony where former members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the first women in to fly America's military aircraft, were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

(AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal

By Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press Writer
35 mins ago

WASHINGTON – They flew planes during World War II but weren't considered real military pilots. No flags were draped over their coffins when they died on duty. And when their service ended, they had to pay their own bus fare home.

These aviators — all women — got long-overdue recognition on Wednesday. They received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by Congress, in a ceremony on Capitol Hill.

About 200 women who served as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, were on hand to receive the award. Now mostly in their late 80s and early 90s, some came in wheelchairs, many sported dark blue uniforms, and one, June Bent of Westboro, Mass., clutched a framed photograph of a comrade who had died.

As a military band played "The Star-Spangled Banner," one of the women who had been sitting in a wheelchair stood up and saluted through the entire song as a relative gently supported her back.

"Women Airforce Service Pilots, we are all your daughters; you taught us how to fly," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She said the pilots went unrecognized for too long, even though their service blazed a trail for other women in the U.S. military.

In accepting the award, WASP pilot Deanie Parrish, 88, of Waco, Texas, said the women had volunteered without expectation of thanks. Their mission was to fly noncombat missions to free up male pilots to fly overseas.

"We did it because our country needed us," Parrish said.

WASP Ty Hughes Killen, 85, of Lancaster, Calif., put it more simply: "We're a bunch of tough old ladies," she said in an interview.

Thirty-eight WASPS were killed in service in World War II. But they were long considered civilians, not members of the military, and thus were not entitled to the pay and benefits given to men.

They were only afforded veteran status in 1977 after a long fight. It's estimated that about 300 of the more than 1,000 WASPs are still alive.

A day earlier, the women participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Memorial with the knowledge that it may be one of the last times so many of them could gather. Killen said it was the "gals who are watching from upstairs" she's been thinking of.

"I really don't care for publicity but what I really do care about is the 900 or more that are already dead and gone and have not had the cognizance and recognition that I feel they should have for their families," Killen said.

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., along with Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Susan Davis, D-Calif., led the push in Congress to get the women recognized.

Hutchison noted at the ceremony that when the unit was disbanded in 1944, many of the women had to pay from their own bus fare home from an airfield in Sweetwater, Texas. When some died on duty, it was fellow female aviators who helped pay their funeral expenses, she said.

The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded in 2000 to the Navajo Code Talkers and in 2006 to the Tuskegee Airmen.

Despite the danger and obstacles they faced, the women in interviews fondly recalled the camaraderie they shared.

"It was fun coming into a strange airport and having the mechanics say, 'Where's the pilot?'" said Dorothy Eppstein, 92, of Kalamazoo, Mich.

Article: HERE

Photo: a creation by designer Cesar Arellanes at exhibition to mark bicentenary of Mexican independence

2010-03-09T23:30:00Z

A model displays a creation by designer Cesar Arellanes at an exhibition to mark the bicentenary of Mexican independence

HERE

Poem: "You Thought I Was That Type" by Anna Akhmatova

2010-03-09T23:27:00Z

You Thought I Was That Type
by Anna Akhmatova

You thought I was that type:
That you could forget me,
And that I'd plead and weep
And throw myself under the hooves of a bay mare,

Or that I'd ask the sorcerers
For some magic potion made from roots and send you a terrible gift:
My precious perfumed handkerchief.

Damn you! I will not grant your cursed soul
Vicarious tears or a single glance.

And I swear to you by the garden of the angels,
I swear by the miracle-working icon,
And by the fire and smoke of our nights:
I will never come back to you.

HERE

Anna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966)

Dozen centuries-old shipwrecks found in Baltic Sea

2010-03-09T23:25:00Z

Tue Mar 9, 11:23 AM ET

Prev 1 of 59 Next

In this image released by Nord Stream on Tuesday March 9, 2010 shows the wheel of a 18th or 19th century sailing ship seen in the waters of the Baltic Sea. A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks some of them unusually well-preserved have been found in the Baltic sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany, Swedish experts said Tuesday. The oldest wreck probably dates back to medieval times and could be up to 800 years old, while the others are likely from the 17th to 19th centuries, said Peter Norman, of Sweden's National Heritage Board.

(AP Photo/Nord Stream, Ho)

Tue Mar 9, 11:23 AM ET

Prev 2 of 59 Next

In this image released by Nord Stream on Tuesday March 9, 2010 shows the figurehead on a sailing ship from the second half of the 19th century seen in the waters of the Baltic Sea. A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks some of them unusually well-preserved have been found in the Baltic sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany, Swedish experts said Tuesday. The oldest wreck probably dates back to medieval times and could be up to 800 years old, while the others are likely from the 17th to 19th centuries, said Peter Norman, of Sweden's National Heritage Board.

(AP Photo/Nord Stream, Ho)

Dozen centuries-old shipwrecks found in Baltic Sea

By Karl Ritter, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 32 mins ago

STOCKHOLM – A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks — some of them unusually well-preserved — have been found in the Baltic Sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany.

The oldest wreck probably dates back to medieval times and could be up to 800 years old, while the others are likely from the 17th to 19th centuries, Peter Norman of Sweden's National Heritage Board said Tuesday.

"They could be interesting, but we have only seen pictures of their exterior. Many of them are considered to be fully intact. They look very well-preserved," Norman told The Associated Press.

Thousands of wrecks — from medieval ships to warships sunk during the world wars of the 20th century — have been found in the Baltic Sea, which doesn't have the ship worm that destroys wooden wrecks in saltier oceans.

The latest discovery was made during a search of the seabed east of the Swedish island of Gotland by the Nord Stream consortium, which is building a 750-mile (1,200-kilometer) pipeline in the Baltic Sea.

The 12 wrecks were found in a 30-mile-long and 1.2-mile-wide (48-kilometer-long and 2 kilometer-wide) corridor, Nord Stream spokeswoman Tora Leifland Holmstrom said.

The heritage board said three of the wrecks have intact hulls and are lying upside-down at a depth of 430 feet (130 meters).

Swedish marine archaeology experts analyzed pictures of the wrecks and determined that they could be of a high historic value.

"The content can tell us a lot about everyday life during that time," Norman said.

It's unclear whether any of them will be salvaged but the board said it hopes they will be explored by divers — though Norman added many of them are at a depth that would require very advanced and costly diving operations.

The Nord Stream consortium, which plans to start construction in April, has promised to make sure its activities don't damage the wrecks. The area where they were found is in Sweden's economic zone, but not in the planned route of the pipeline, Leifland Holmstrom said.

The Nord Stream project, in which Russia's OAO Gazprom holds a 51 percent stake, has uncovered scores of other objects during seabed searches of the route, including about 80 sea mines and a washing machine, she said.

Last year, parts of a 300-year-old ship were salvaged from Germany's Bay of Greifswald to clear a path for the pipeline, which expects to carry some 1.9 trillion cubic feet (55 billion cubic meters) of natural gas a year.

Sweden's most famous maritime discovery, the royal warship Vasa, is housed in a popular museum in Stockholm where visitors can admire the ship's details, down to the flashing teeth of the carved lions that adorn its elaborate exterior. The Vasa was raised from the Stockholm harbor in 1961, 333 years after it sank on its maiden voyage.

Article: HERE

Palin Crossed Border For Canadian Health Care: "And I think now, isn't that ironic?"

2010-03-09T23:17:00Z

Thu Mar 4, 6:38 PM ET

Previous 2 of 74 Next

Sarah Palin talks with a supporter during her book signing of her new book 'Going Rogue' at Barnes and Noble bookstore in Grand Rapids, Michigan November 18, 2009 file photo.

REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Palin Crossed Border For Canadian Health Care

Sam Stein
Mon Mar 8, 12:26 pm ET

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- who has gone to great lengths to hype the supposed dangers of a big government takeover of American health care -- admitted over the weekend that she used to get her treatment in Canada's single-payer system.

"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada," Palin said in her first Canadian appearance since stepping down as governor of Alaska. "And I think now, isn't that ironic?"

The irony, one guesses, is that Palin now views Canada's health care system as revolting: with its government-run administration and 'death-panel'-like rationing. Clearly, however, she and her family once found it more alluring than, at the very least, the coverage available in rural Alaska. Up to the age of six, Palin lived in a remote town near the closest Canadian city, Whitehorse.

Officials at several hospitals in that area declined to give out information on patient visits.

Article: HERE

Photo: hundreds of people watch the lighting of the falla 'Literato Azorin' in Valencia

2010-03-08T18:26:00Z

Hundreds of people under their umbrellas watch the lighting of the falla 'Literato Azorin' in Valencia

HERE

Big Bang experiment may reveal dark universe: CERN

2010-03-08T18:11:00Z

Mon Mar 8, 10:44 AM ET

The Linac 2 (Linear Accelerator 2) is pictured at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research

(CERN) in Meyrin near Geneva October 16, 2008. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/Files

Big Bang experiment may reveal dark universe: CERN

By Robert Evans
1 hr 4 mins ago

GENEVA (Reuters) – Dark matter, which scientists believe makes up 25 percent of the universe but whose existence has never been proven, could be detected by the giant particle collider at CERN, the research centre's head said Monday.

Rolf-Dieter Heuer told a news conference some evidence for the matter may emerge even in the shorter term from mega-power particle collisions aimed at recreating conditions at the "Big Bang" birth of the universe some 13.7 billion years ago.

"We don't know what dark matter is," said Heuer, Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research on the Swiss-French border near Geneva.

"Our Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could be the first machine to give us insight into the dark universe," he said. "We are opening the door to New Physics, to a discovery period."

Astronomers and physicists say that only 5 percent of the universe is known currently, and that the invisible remainder consists of dark matter and dark energy, which make up some 25 percent and 70 percent, respectively.

"If we can detect and understand dark matter, our knowledge will expand to encompass 30 percent of the universe, a huge step forward," Heuer said.

HIGHEST ENERGY

The LHC, the world's largest scientific experiment centered in a 27-kilometre (16.78 mile) oval-shaped tunnel deep underground, is presently moving to colliding particles by the end of the month at the highest energy ever achieved.

These multiple collisions at a total of 7 tera-electron volts, or TeV, will each create mini-Big Bangs, producing data that thousands of scientists at CERN and in laboratories around the globe will analyze.

One widely publicized aim of the LHC is to try to find the theoretical particle that gave mass to the matter that spewed out after the primeval explosion and thereby made possible the emergence of stars, planets and eventually life -- on earth and perhaps elsewhere.

The mysterious particle has been dubbed the Higgs boson after the Scottish physicist who three decades ago proposed it to explain the origin of mass in the universe.

"We know everything about this particle. The only thing we don't know is if it exists," said Heuer, a German physicist who took over at CERN 14 months ago. "And if it does not exist, we are bound to find something that is very much like it."

Once collisions in the LHC are begun at 7 TeV, they will continue with only very brief breaks until the end of 2011, and then the machine will be shut down for a year to prepare it for years more of experiments at 14 TeV.

(Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Jason Rhodes)

Article: HERE

Japanese dolphin hunters bitter as 'The Cove' wins Oscar

2010-03-08T18:07:00Z

image: HERE

Mon Mar 8, 8:12 AM ET

Previous 26 of 680 Next

Best documentary winners Richard O'Barry (L), director Louie Psihoyos (2nd L), producer Paula DuPre Pesman (2nd R) and actor Fisher Stevens from the film "The Cove," display their Oscar at the the 82nd Academy Awards in Hollywood. Dolphin hunters in a Japanese fishing town have defended their annual cull after "The Cove", a hard-hitting film about the slaughter, won the Oscar for best documentary.

(AFP/Mark Ralston)

Japan dolphin hunters bitter as 'The Cove' wins Oscar

by Kyoko Hasegawa
Mon Mar 8, 8:12 am ET

TAIJI, Japan (AFP) – Dolphin hunters in a Japanese fishing town on Monday defended their annual cull after "The Cove", a hard-hitting film about the slaughter, won the Academy Award for best documentary.

Every year, fishermen in Taiji herd about 2,000 dolphins into a secluded bay, select several dozen for sale to aquariums and marine parks and harpoon the rest for meat, a practice long deplored by animal rights activists.

The team that shot "The Cove" over several years often worked clandestinely and at night to elude local authorities and angry fishermen, setting up disguised cameras underwater and in forested hills around the rocky cove.

Individual fishermen in Taiji routinely decline to speak to foreign media, but they have the support of many local people in the town of 3,700 who defend hunting dolphins, porpoises and small whales as a centuries-old tradition.

Town mayor Kazutaka Sangen and the local fisheries cooperative said in identical statements released on Monday: "We feel regret that the film features elements that are false and not based on scientific facts."

"Hunting of cetaceans in Taiji is being carried out appropriately under the fisheries laws and with the permission of Wakayama prefecture, and there is nothing illegal about it," both statements said.

Many people feel the same way in the southwestern town, which celebrates dolphins and whales with several sculptures and murals and a museum.

"I feel sorry for the fishermen who hunt dolphins as part of their work," said petrol station attendant Takehisa Kobata, 47. "To me, the film seems to be pure entertainment and is not seriously describing the lives here."

Akio Usagawa, 65, director of the Taiji Community Centre, said that "the reputation of the Academy Awards is in tatters" and fumed that the film portrays local fishermen "like mafia."

"They shot angry fishermen, but it's natural that the fishermen get angry if they are disturbed when they're doing their job," he said.

"The Cove," directed by National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, shows angry confrontation between residents and activist Ric O'Barry, who in the 1960s trained dolphins for the US hit television show "Flipper."

The film also highlights the health threat posed by high levels of mercury found in dolphin meat, which used to be served in local school lunches.

Local assemblyman Hisato Ryono, who years ago raised the alarm about the health threat to children, was interviewed in the documentary but now opposes "The Cove," arguing that it emotively distorts the issue.

"This is an unfair film, using clandestine shooting that the fishermen didn't want... I'm concerned about the image of the town of Taiji and Japan as a whole in the future after the film won the Academy Award."

One of the activists behind "The Cove", the co-author of the book on the film, Hans Peter Roth, was back in town on Monday.

"I tried to talk to residents, but couldn't," he told AFP, adding that he thought dolphin-watching trips, rather than hunts, could boost tourism.

"I'm here to find a win-win situation for everybody. That means for the fishermen and for the local economy -- and of course for the dolphins."

He added: "Not all cultural traditions are good. Speaking about culture, it was at one time a culture or tradition in Switzerland that women did not have the right to vote. And it's obviously not a good tradition."

"Westerners equally treat animals badly," said Roth, who added that as a journalist in Switzerland he had filmed the slaughter of cows and pigs.

In Hollywood, Psihoyos denied his movie was an example of "Japan-bashing" and said: "Our hope is the Japanese people will see this film and decide themselves whether animals should be used for meat and for entertainment."

O'Barry added: "We like the Japanese people and there's no Japan bashing from this film. The Japanese people have a right to know.

"This film will do what the Japanese media failed to do, and that is inform the people so they can make up their own mind about what they want to do. We're not telling the Japanese people what to do."

Article: HERE

Listening to: October Project's "Take Me As I Am" (video)

2010-03-08T18:03:00Z

Take me as I am
Someone you don't know
Even in the dark
You may not be sure
Take me while you can
I can see you standing in the smoky entrance
Giving up your good intentions

CHORUS
Leave the shadows dancing
Dancing on their own
Let the moment free you now
And leave it all behind you
I'll know where you've gone
Let the world go on

Take me as I am
I may disappear
Fade into the night
Lighter than your thoughts
Take me while you can
Never knowing who or what you are until you're
Living with the unfamiliar
CHORUS

There's a place where fear won't find you
Where your secret dreams remind you
This is all you have to know and
This is all you have to go on
Everything you have inside you
Everything you need to guide you
This is all you have to know and
This is all you have to go on

Take me as I am
Someone you could know
Even as we speak
You could change your mind
Take me while you can
Even if you shine a light into a mirror
You won't see me any clearer
CHORUS

YouTube

Tom Delay: People Are Unemployed Because They Want To Be

2010-03-08T18:00:00Z

Mon Mar 8, 10:04 AM ET

FILE - In this April 4, 2006 file photo, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay leaves the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. Few members of Congress are disclosing the fundraising help they get from lobbyists despite a new law that is supposed to make it easy for the public to track campaign connections between lawmakers and the people hired to influence them, an Associated Press review found

(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, FILE)

Tom Delay: People Are Unemployed Because They Want To Be

Sam Stein
Sun Mar 7, 11:06 am ET

Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay called Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) "brave" on Sunday for launching a one-man filibuster of unemployment benefits, arguing that they dissuaded people from going out and finding work.

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," the Texas Republican said that Bunning's fiscal responsibility was commendable, even if his shenanigans (refusing to allow unemployment benefits to be considered by unanimous consent) nearly brought the Senate to a halt.

"Nothing would have happened if the Democrats had just paid for [the benefits]," Delay said. "People would have gotten their unemployment compensation. I think Bunning was brave in standing up there and taking it on by himself."

Asked whether it was bad strategy to make a budget stand on a $10 billion extension of unemployment (as opposed to, say, the Bush's $720 billion prescription drug package), Delay insisted that if the PR had been done right, Bunning would have been applauded. Helping the unemployed with federal assistance, he said, was unsound policy.

"You know," Delay said, "there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don't look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out.

Host Candy Crowley: Congressman, that's a hard sell, isn't it?

Delay: it's the truth.

Crowley: People are unemployed because they want to be?

Delay: well, it is the truth. and people in the real world know it. And they have friends and they know it. Sure, we ought to be helping people that are unemployed find a job, but we also have budget considerations that are incredibly important, especially now that Obama is spending monies that we don't have.

Frosty the cat survives FOUR WEEKS in a chilled food warehouse... by eating frozen peas

2010-03-08T17:55:00Z

Frosty the cat survived for four weeks in a chilled food warehouse by eating frozen peas

Frosty the cat survives FOUR WEEKS in a chilled food warehouse... by eating frozen peas
05th March 2010

A lucky cat has survived after being trapped for four weeks in a chilled food warehouse - by eating frozen peas. The feline managed to survive temperatures of -2C (-28F) for a month in the warehouse before it was finally rescued by the RSPCA. The 12-month-old black and white tabby cat, who has been nicknamed 'Frosty' by RSPCA staff, is believed to have survived by eating frozen peas and licking moisture off icy food packets. However, Frosty did not manage to escape frostbite during his time in the freezing temperatures, and had to have both ears and his tail amputated following his ordeal at the frozen food distribution centre in Northamptonshire last month. He is now recovering at the RSPCA Woodside Animal Centre in Leicester and is expected to make a full recovery. RSPCA worker Rachel Allcock said: 'When he came into us he was pretty shy, which isn't surprising considering the ordeal he'd been through. 'He's a lovely cat and he's become very playful. We're looking forward to his full recovery and getting him to his new home.'

Animal Care Assistant Nicki Yorke with Frosty who had to have his ears and tail amputated after the ordeal

Frosty, who is believed to have been trapped in the warehouse after entering in the back of a lorry, was spotted by staff in the warehouse early last month but escaped numerous attempts to catch him. The large warehouse is maintained at a constant temperature with its main doors closed except when large articulated lorries arrive to deliver or remove palletised cargo. Staff believe Frosty may have been too frightened to leave when he had the opportunity because of the noise and activity around the main doors. A spokesman for the warehouse, which has not been named, said: 'We think he'd been in the warehouse for at least four weeks. 'He had been spotted on several occasions by staff but no-one could catch him. 'We have trucks coming in from all over. He could have come from anywhere. We have no idea. 'It's extremely cold in there. We were surprised that he survived. He's a very lucky boy. He was very frightened and obviously freezing cold. 'One of the lads here has offered to re-home him, so he will take him home as soon as he's well enough. 'A lot of people were really concerned about him and wanted to know how he was getting on so we're trying to organise a collection.' The RSPCA caught Frosty in a humane trap after leaving it overnight baited with cat treats, milk and water. RSPCA spokesman Steve Sellars said: 'It's incredible that Frosty survived for so long in such a harsh environment.'

Article: HERE

Photo: artist's impression of an icy exoplanet. "An era of planet discovery is dawning that will see thousands of new worlds identified in the next few years"

2010-03-07T21:12:00Z

An artist's impression of an icy exoplanet. An era of planet discovery is dawning that will see thousands of new worlds identified in the next few years, some of which may harbour life, say scientists.

HERE

Researchers: "AIDS virus can hide in bone marrow, avoiding drugs and later awakening to cause illness"

2010-03-07T21:06:00Z

A bone marrow biopsy image: HERE

Researchers: AIDS virus can hide in bone marrow

By Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science Writer
1 hr 16 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The virus that causes AIDS can hide in the bone marrow, avoiding drugs and later awakening to cause illness, according to new research that could point the way toward better treatments for the disease.

Finding that hide-out is a first step, but years of research lie ahead.

Dr. Kathleen Collins of the University of Michigan and her colleagues report in this week's edition of the journal Nature Medicine that the HIV virus can infect long-lived bone marrow cells that eventually convert into blood cells.

The virus is dormant in the bone marrow cells, she said, but when those progenitor cells develop into blood cells, it can be reactivated and cause renewed infection. The virus kills the new blood cells and then moves on to infect other cells, said.

"If we're ever going to be able to find a way to get rid of the cells, the first step is to understand" where a latent infection can continue, Collins said.

In recent years, drugs have reduced AIDS deaths sharply, but patients need to keep taking the medicines for life or the infection comes back, she said. That's an indication that while the drugs battle the active virus, some of the disease remains hidden away to flare up once the therapy is stopped.

One hide-out was found earlier in blood cells called macrophages. Another pool was discovered in memory T-cells, and research began on attacking those.

But those couldn't account for all the HIV virus still circulating, Collins said, showing there were more locations to check out and leading her to study the blood cell progenitors.

Finding these sources of infection is important because eliminating them would allow AIDS patients to stop taking drugs after their infection was over. That's critical in countries where the treatment is hard to afford and deliver.

"I don't know how many people realize that although the drugs have reduced mortality we still have a long way to go," Collins said in a telephone interview. "That is mainly because we can't stop the drugs, people have to take it for a lifetime."

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Burroughs Wellcome Foundation, University of Michigan, Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, National Science Foundation and a Bernard Maas Fellowship.

___

On the Net:

Nature Medicine: http://www.nature.com/nm

AIDS information: http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/

Article: HERE

image: HERE

Gendercide in Asia: Massive rise in abortion of female fetuses

2010-03-07T20:59:00Z

Gender imbalance: In China, more than 120 boys are now being born for every 100 girls (file picture)

'Gendercide' in Asia: Massive rise in abortion of female fetuses
06th March 2010

New technology combined with ancient prejudices are producing communities in Asia with thousands more men than women, it has emerged. Ultrasound scans which can detect the sex of babies have contributed to a massive rise in abortions of female fetuses in cultures which value males much more highly. In China and Northern India, more than 120 boys are now being born for every 100 girls - up from an imbalance of 108 boys to every 100 girls in the 1980s, according to statistics published in The Economist. These rates are biologically impossible without human intervention. In rural areas, this ratio is even higher - in some Chinese provinces the ratio is an unprecedented 130 to 100. According to The Economist, 'it is no exaggeration to call this gendercide'. 'Women are missing in their millions - aborted, killed, neglected to death,' said The Economist report. 'In 1990, an Indian economist, Amartya Sen, put the number at 100m; the toll is higher now.' Distorted sex ratios are also being recorded in other East Asian countries, including Taiwan and Singapore, former communist states in the western Balkans and the Caucasus. According to The Economist, the reasons for the rise in abortions are three-fold: The ancient preference for sons, a modern desire for smaller families, and ultrasound scanning that can identify the sex of a fetus. 'In societies where four or six children were common, a boy would almost certainly come along eventually; son preference did not need to exist at the expense of daughters,' said The Economist report. 'But now couples want two children - or, as in China, are allowed only one - they will sacrifice unborn daughters to their pursuit of a son. 'That is why sex ratios are most distorted in the modern, open parts of China and India. 'It is also why ratios are more skewed after the first child: parents may accept a daughter first time round but will do anything to ensure their next - and probably last - child is a boy. 'The boy-girl ratio is above 200 for a third child in some places.' Statistics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences - published by The Economist - estimate that by 2020, China will have 30million-40million more men aged 19 and below than women in the same age group. This will result in one in five young men in the country being unable to find a bride, according to CASS. According to The Economist, the crime rate has almost doubled in China during the past 20 years of rising sex ratios, including bride abduction, the trafficking of women rape and prostitution. A study by the Institute for the Study of Labour in Bonn, Germany, into whether these elements were connected found that they were, and that higher sex ratios accounted for about one seventh of the rise in crime. And, according to the World Health Organisation, female suicide rates in China are among the highest in the world.

Article: HERE

More...

Read the full article from The Economist

Photo: slap-sole shoes, probably Italian, mid-17th century, are seen on display in the "On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels" exhibition in Toronto

2010-03-07T20:55:00Z

Wed Feb 24, 6:10 AM ET

Prev 1 of 29 Next

Slap-sole shoes, probably Italian, mid-17th century, are seen on display in the "On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels" exhibition at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, January 7, 2010.

REUTERS/Mark Blinch

HERE