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New fossil found in England makes pliosaur bigger predator than T-rex

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:20:07 -0800

http://images.moviefill.com/88c92a42ac4b41fb_8424f0a95a24f177_o.jpg

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:36:06 -0700

Right on, Ricky!

Teen burglars mom: I hope he stole those planes | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon | Local &Regional

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:10:36 -0700

Colton Harris-Moore is seen in a July 2008 photo recovered from a stolen digital camera memory card.

From the page:

Story Updated: Oct 9, 2009 at 11:05 AM PDT
By Gene Johnson, Associated Press Writer

EASTSOUND, Wash. (AP) - In the darkness of this sleepy island town, the beam of a deputy's flashlight caught the back of a lanky teenager wanted in a notorious 18-month burglary spree.

The teen glanced over his shoulder - and vanished into the woods. "He virtually vaporized in front of me," deputy Jeff Patterson recalled.

Such encounters have become all too common on the bucolic islands north of Seattle as police hunt for an elusive thief whose crime spree is quickly becoming a local legend. Colton Harris-Moore is suspected in about 50 burglary cases since he slipped away from a halfway house in April 2008.

Now, authorities say, he may have moved on to a more dangerous hobby: stealing airplanes.

The saga is beginning to feel like something out of the movie "Catch Me If You Can," as Harris-Moore keeps finding new ways to embarrass police by slipping through their grasp.

The 18 year old typically breaks into businesses or unoccupied vacation homes, lies down on the couch and then dashes into the woods if confronted. He earned himself the nickname of "the barefoot burglar" by committing some of his crimes without wearing shoes.

But authorities say the case has taken on a dangerous new dimension now that Harris-Moore is apparently joyriding in small aircraft.

He is suspected of taking three planes from rural airports and crash-landing them. There were bare footprints inside and outside some hangars that had been broken into. In one, police said, footprints were on the wall - indicating that the suspect put his feet up, apparently while eating.

His mother said she doesn't see anything wrong with what he's suspected of doing.

"I hope to h*** he stole those airplanes - I would be so proud," Pam Kohler told a reporter, noting her son's lack of training. "But put in there that I want him to wear a parachute next time."

Over the weekend, someone took blankets, shoes and food from a home near the site where a stolen Cessna crash-landed north of Seattle on an apparent path toward Harris-Moore's hometown on Camano Island. SWAT teams were called out after a shot was fired from the woods, but whoever was responsible got away.

The teen may be motivated by a strong interest in aviation, but police say he does not discriminate in his choice of stolen vehicle: A boat stolen from the island was found last month on the mainland.

Police believe Harris-Moore also recently took thousands of dollars from safes and ATMs at businesses in the Orcas Island hamlet of Eastsound.

The teen has exploited the fact that the police do not have the manpower to mount an all-out hunt in a property crime case. Sheriff's offices on some of the islands do not even have tracking dogs.

Frustrated residents wonder how hard it is to find a 6-foot-5-inch, 200-pound teenager in the confines of an island, while red-faced cops bristle at what they see as attempts to romanticize the fugitive.

A Harris-Moore fan club has emerged on Facebook, and a Seattle man started selling T-shirts bearing his picture and the words "Momma Tried."

Son, next time you steal an airplane, steal a parachute too.

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Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:14:57 -0700

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/892/meteorite-older-solar-system

From the page:

Meteorite older than Solar System
Friday, 1 December 2006

by Marie Theresa Bray
Cosmos Online
Meteorite older than Solar System

Organic globules found in the Tagish Lake meteorite fragments may predate the solar system, according to a new U.S. study

Credit: University of Calgary

SYDNEY: A meteorite discovered in Canada may be older than the Solar System, according to a new U.S. study.

Samples taken from the Tagish Lake meteorite, discovered in 2000, have revealed evidence of organic matter that predates our Sun and Solar System, according to the study, published in today's edition of the U.S. journal Science.

According to the researchers, the meteorite most likely originated at the outer regions of the Kuiper Belt or in the cold molecular cloud that gave birth to the Solar System.

When analysing the meteorite, the team, led by Keiko Nakamura-Messenger, of the NASA/Johnson Space Center in Texas, discovered "globules" inside it consisting of simple organic compounds with carbon-rich outer layers.

They found that the globules mainly consisted of aliphatic hydrocarbons - hydrogen and nitrogen atoms connected to chains of carbon atoms.

Almost all matter in the Solar System has the same ratio of isotopes of each element, (isotopes are versions of an element with different numbers of neutrons). Isotopic ratios are often exploited by scientists to learn more about the origin of a sample of interest. For instance, the known ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-13 and carbon-12 allows radiocarbon dating provide accurate ages of ancient objects.

Surprisingly, the meteorite globules revealed unusually high ratios of isotopes when compared to the remainder of the meteorite material.

"We recognised the globules that were not from the Solar System from their exotic isotopic compositions," said Nakamura-Messenger.

The isotopic ratios showed that the globules formed at temperatures of about minus 260�C - close to absolute zero. According to Nakamura-Messenger, this means that "the organic globules most likely originated in the cold molecular cloud that gave birth to our Solar System, or at the outermost reaches of the early Solar System."

The meteorite was classified as a "carbonaceous chondrite type" which contain up to 5 per cent by weight organic matter. Notably, it recorded the highest content of carbon in this type of meteorite to date.

Based on the meteorite's initial speed and entry direction, the team calculated its orbit around our Sun, and found that it originated somewhere in the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

"We can't reach the outer Solar System now by ourselves, but we are able to research the material from there through meteorites. I think this is really cool," said Nakamura-Messenger. "By using our new instruments ... we may be one step closer to knowing where our ancestors came from."

The Moon Has Water?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:05:06 -0700

Yes

A Wandering Space Announcement

Scientists Discover New Element, the Heaviest Yet Known to Science - Disaboom

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:00:19 -0700

From the page:

The Heaviest Element Known to Science

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.z

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of morons promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Thanks Zeitgiest

menonroopeshs favorite web sites - StumbleUpon

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:54:40 -0700

Isn't he beautiful?!

NASA: More water beneath ocean floor is possibility // Current

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:22:41 -0700

From the page:

Water in Mantle May be Associated with Subduction

August 19, 2009

CORVALLIS, Ore. - A team of scientists from Oregon State University has created the first global three-dimensional map of electrical conductivity in the Earth's mantle and their model suggests that that enhanced conductivity in certain areas of the mantle may signal the presence of water.

What is most notable, the scientists say, is those areas of high conductivity coincide with subduction zones - where tectonic plates are being subducted beneath the Earth's crust. Subducting plates are comparatively colder than surrounding mantle materials and thus should be less conductive. The answer, the researchers suggest, may be that conductivity in those areas is enhanced by water drawn downward during the subduction process.

Results of their study are being published this week in Nature.

"Many earth scientists have thought that tectonic plates are not likely to carry much if any water deep into the Earth's mantle when they are being subducted," said Adam Schultz, a professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State and a co-author on the Nature study. "Most evidence suggests that subducting rocks initially hold water within their minerals, but that water is released as the rocks heat up."

"There may be other explanations," he added, "but the model clearly shows a close association between subduction zones and high conductivity and the simplest explanation is water."

The study is important because it provides new insights into the fundamental ways in which the planet works. Despite all of the advances in technology, scientists are still unsure how much water lies beneath the ocean floor - and how much of it makes its way into the mantle.

The implications are myriad. Water interacts with minerals differently at different depths, and small amounts of water can change the physical properties of rocks, alter the viscosity of materials in the mantle, assist in the formation of rising plumes of melted rock and ultimately affect what comes out on the surface.

"In fact, we don't really know how much water there is on Earth," said Gary Egbert, also a professor of oceanography at OSU and co-author on the study. "There is some evidence that there is many times more water below the ocean floor than there is in all the oceans of the world combined. Our results may shed some light on this question."

Egbert cautioned that there are other explanations for higher conductivity in the mantle, including elevated iron content or carbon.

There also may be different explanations for how the water - if indeed the conductivity is reflecting water - got there in the first place, the scientists point out.

"If it isn't being subducted down with the plates," Schultz said, "how did it get there? Is it primordial, down there for four billion years? Or did it indeed come down as the plates slowly subduct, suggesting that the planet may have been much wetter a long time ago? These are fascinating questions, for which we do not yet have answers."

The scientists conducted their study using electromagnetic induction sounding of the Earth's mantle. This electromagnetic imaging method is very sensitive to interconnecting pockets of fluid that may be found within rocks and minerals that enhance conductivity. Using magnetic observations from more than 100 observatories dating back to the 1980s, they were able to create a global three-dimensional map of mantle conductivity.

Anna Kelbert, a post-doctoral research associate at OSU and lead author on the paper, said the imaging doesn't show the water itself, but the level of conductivity and interpreting levels of hydrogen, iron or carbon require additional constraints from mineral physics. She described the study of electrical conductivity as both computationally intensive and requiring years of careful measurements in the international observatories.

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) Discoveries - Not a Quirk But a Quark ... a Quark Star! - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:01:36 -0700

From the page:

June 26, 2008

Astronomers recently announced that they have found a novel explanation for a rare type of super-luminous stellar explosion that may have produced a new type of object known as a quark star.

Three exceptionally luminous supernovae explosions have been observed in recent years. One of them was first observed using a robotic telescope at the California Institute of Technology's (Caltech) Palomar Observatory.

Data collected with Palomar's Samuel Oschin Telescope was transmitted from the remote mountain site in southern California to astronomers via the High-Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Nearby Supernova Factory research group at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory reported the co-discovery of the supernova, known as SN2005gj.

Researchers in Canada have analyzed this, along with two other supernovae, and believe that they each may be the signature of the explosive conversion of a neutron star into a quark star.

These three supernovae, each 100 times brighter than a typical supernova, have been difficult to explain. The Canadian research team thinks the explosions herald the creation of a previously unobserved and new class of objects, designated as quark stars.

A quark star is a hypothetical type of star composed of ultra dense quark matter. Quarks are the fundamental components of protons and neutrons, which make up the nucleus of atoms. The most dense objects known to exist today are neutron stars--stars composed entirely of tightly packed neutrons. A typical neutron star is some 16 miles across, yet has a mass one and a half times the mass of our Sun.

Neutron stars are formed when a massive star undergoes a supernova explosion at the end of its life. The question is, is a neutron star indeed the most dense object that exists? It is thought that if the neutrons are too tightly packed--if what scientists consider a neutron star is too dense--the resulting instability may lead to a further collapse, resulting in a second explosion and the creation of a quark star. The energy that powers that second explosion comes from neutrons breaking down into their component parts: quarks.

Further observations should help to confirm or defeat the hypothesis of quark stars, but in either case, the use of a high-speed network like HPWREN helps astronomers across the world explore the frontiers of science.

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Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:53:17 -0700

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2009-17/release.shtml

From the page:

Space Telescopes Find Trigger-Happy Star Formation

For Release: August 12, 2009

NGC 1097

PASADENA, Calif. -- A new study from two of NASA's Great Observatories provides fresh insight into how some stars are born, along with a beautiful new image of a stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy. The research shows that radiation from massive stars may trigger the formation of many more stars than previously thought.

While astronomers have long understood that stars and planets form from the collapse of a cloud of gas, the question of the main causes of this process has remained open.

One option is that the cloud cools, gravity gets the upper hand, and the cloud falls in on itself. The other possibility is that a "trigger" from some external source -- like radiation from a massive star or a shock from a supernova -- initiates the collapse. Some previous studies have noted a combination of triggering mechanisms in effect.

By combining observations of the star-forming cloud Cepheus B from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers have taken an important step in addressing this question. Cepheus B is a cloud of mainly cool molecular hydrogen located about 2,400 light years from Earth. There are hundreds of very young stars inside and around the cloud -- ranging from a few million years old outside the cloud to less than a million in the interior -- making it an important testing ground for star formation.

"Astronomers have generally believed that it's somewhat rare for stars and planets to be triggered into formation by radiation from massive stars," said Konstantin Getman of Penn State University, University Park, Pa., lead author of the study. "Our new result shows this belief is likely to be wrong."

This particular type of triggered star formation had previously been seen in small populations of a few dozen stars, but the latest result is the first time it has been clearly observed in a rich population of several hundred stars.

While slightly farther away than the famous Orion star-forming region, Cepheus B is at a better orientation for astronomers to observe the triggering process. The Chandra observations allowed the astronomers to pick out young stars within and around Cepheus B. Young stars have turbulent interiors that generate highly active magnetic fields, which, in turn, produce strong and identifiable X-ray signatures.

The Spitzer data revealed whether the young stars have a disk of material (known as "protoplanetary" disks) around them. Since they only exist in very young systems where planets are still forming, the presence of protoplanetary disks -- or lack thereof -- is an indication of the age of a star system.

The new study suggests that star formation in Cepheus B is mainly triggered by radiation from one bright, massive star outside the molecular cloud. According to theoretical models, radiation from this star would drive a compression wave into the cloud-triggering star formation in the interior, while evaporating the cloud's outer layers. The Chandra-Spitzer analysis revealed slightly older stars outside the cloud, and the youngest stars with the most protoplanetary disks in the cloud interior -- exactly what is predicted from the triggered star formation scenario.