World's most powerful telescope up and running

Oct 4 (bdnews24.com/Reuters)- A radio telescope high in the Chilean desert is the world's most powerful eye on the universe.

It looks like something out of a science fiction movie - giant antennas zooming in and out of a desert, their scopes trained on far-away galaxies.

But this project, based high in Chile's Altacama desert, is very much a reality.

At a cost of more than a billion dollars and nearly two decades in the making, the antennas form part of the world's most powerful telescope - called ALMA - which started operating on Tuesday.

The site consists of large dish antennas that gather information about the cosmos by observing microscopic wavelengths. 

Scientists hope the new radio telescope will help them better understand the formation of distant stars and planets.

PORTUGUESE ASTRONOMER JOSE ALONSO SAYING:

"Well we know of some galaxies that exist in the far away universe that are only seen in certain wavelengths. For example, we know about radio galaxies that are not observed in any other wavelength."

ASTRONOMER ANA HUGHES SAYING:

"I look at molecular clouds in nearby galaxies. Molecular clouds are where stars form. The clouds are made up of very cold gas. And studying the physical conditions in these clouds helps us to understand the star formation process."

At the moment 23 of the planned 66 antennas are able to be moved across the desert floor to zoom in and out.

The complete site, funded jointly by partners from North America, Europe and East Asia, is scheduled to be fully operational next year. 

2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?

Scenes from the motion picture "2012." Courtesy Columbia Pictures

Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without much of a whimper because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, won't be the end of the world as we know. It will, however, be another winter solstice.

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we're frequently asked regarding 2012.
Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Q: Could phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?
A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway. 

Earth, as seen in the Blue Marble: Next Generation collection of images, showing the color of the planet's surface in high resolution. This image shows South America from September 2004


Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?
A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?
A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.

Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?
A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

Alcohol Impairs the Body's Ability to Fight Off Viral Infection, Study Finds

Alcohol can worsen the effects of disease, resulting in longer recovery period after trauma, injury or burns. It is also known to impair the anti-viral immune response, especially in the liver, including response against Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Immunology shows that alcohol modulates the anti-viral and inflammatory functions of monocytes and that prolonged alcohol consumption has a double negative effect of reducing the anti-viral effect of Type 1 interferon (IFN) whilst increasing inflammation via the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFα.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School looked at the effect of alcohol on monocytes collected from the blood of healthy volunteers. The group, led by Prof Gyongyi Szabo, focussed specifically on two disease related pathways -- the first (Toll-like receptor 8 -- TLR8) stimulated by single strand RNA viral attack and the second (TLR4) is involved in recognising bacteria.

Their results showed that, as expected, activation of these pathways resulted in an increase in the levels of the anti-viral cytokine IFN, however this was reduced by treatment with alcohol equivalent to four or five drinks a day for seven days. Similarly stimulation of these pathways resulted in an increase in the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFα. However, while a single treatment with alcohol decreased the amount of TNFα, prolonged treatment increased levels of inflammation.

Prof Szabo said, "Alcohol has a profound effect of inhibiting IFN production in monocytes regardless of whether the danger signal is intracellular (TLR8) or surface-derived (TLR4). Such a reduction would impair the body's ability to fight off infection. Additionally, the fact that Type I IFN production is depressed despite increased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNFα, due to chronic alcohol exposure suggests that prolonged alcohol must change the immune balance of monocyte activation and impair host response to single-stranded virus infection like hepatitis C."

LiveScience

Stars the Size of Cities, Crypt Creatures and Hungry Baby Beetles

Stars the size of cities colliding, deep sea creatures and hungry baby beetles top our list of cool pics in science. Check these out!

City-Size Stars Collide

When two city-size neutron stars collide, new research shows that the resulting shockwave emits radio signals that can help astronomers to verify elusive gravity waves.

Creatures of the Crypt

In a gallery published this week, LiveScience took a look at some of the most mysterious and just cool-looking creatures of the deep sea. Here, a terrifying toothy anglerfish, a species that became a common occurrence in little kids' nightmares ever since it chased Nemo and Dory in Pixar's "Finding Nemo."
Baby Beetles Devour Froggy Predators

When frogs and toads see Epomis beetle larvae waggling their antennae and jiggling their jaws, they must think, "Aha! Easy meal."

Animal Sex: Katydid Style

Add caNew research suggests that in bushcricket species, also called katydids, in which the males offer particularly large food gifts to a prospective mate, the females are willing to do the chasing. Shown here, a recently mated Poecilimon veluchianus minor, a species of bushcricket, carrying a spermatophore, which contains a food gift and a sperm and ejaculate containing ampulla to fertilize the female.

Space robot to practice refueling satellites

The Robotic Refueling Mission flying aboard the space shuttle Atlantis will use the International Space Station's Dextre robot to test tools for refueling and repairing existing satellites, none of which were designed with reuse in mind. 

"I've likened it to a Fisher-Price play toy for a robot, and I don't mean that in a negative sense," Atlantis commander Chris Ferguson said in a preflight interview. 

Ferguson and three crewmates arrived at the space station on Sunday to deliver a year's worth of food, clothing and other supplies. The mission is the 135th and final flight in the 30-year-old shuttle program, which is ending due to high costs. 

NASA hired two firms, Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences Corp, to deliver cargo to the station beginning next year. The Obama administration wants NASA to buy rides for its astronauts as well, though no commercial suppliers are expected to be available until around 2015. In the meantime, the United States will pay Russia for space taxi flights, at a cost of more than $50 million a seat. 

The $22.6 million Robotic Refueling Mission equipment is scheduled to be installed to the outside of the space station during a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Tuesday. 

The hardware consists of a box of tools, fittings and a tank of ethanol fuel that the station's Dextre robot can use to perform tasks that would be needed to refuel a satellite, such as cutting away thermal insulation and wires, removing protective caps, installing fuel valves and transferring fuel from one tank to another. 

The test work, which won't start until after the shuttle leaves the station, is scheduled to run for two years. NASA plans to hire an industry partner for a follow-on mission around 2015 to refuel a U.S. government weather satellite and then nine other spacecraft in orbit 

"We want the commercial world to take over this service," said Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager for the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. 

SATELLITES 

There are currently about 360 operational commercial communications satellites and another 100 government-owned satellites orbiting Earth. 

"Every single one of them one day is going to run out of fuel and be thrown away. That's the way it's always been done. If a robot can go up and refuel it, you wouldn't have to throw it away," Reed said. 

Because the satellites weren't designed with refueling in mind -- they have no navigational aids, no reflectors, nothing to help guide in an approaching spacecraft -- the technical hurdles are steep. 

Since the same technology also could be used to disable satellites, Reed said NASA intends to be as open as possible about the project. 

"We plan an international workshop next spring where we will lay out in more detail what our plans are to make the world aware of what we are doing so that we can minimize the anti-satellite weapon accusers," Reed said. 

The spacewalk to install the project's trial run will be conducted by NASA's two space station crewmembers, Ron Garan and Mike Fossum. 

Atlantis, which blasted off on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center, is due back on July 21. NASA managers gave the crew an extra day at the space station to complete more unpacking tasks. The extension sets Atlantis up for a night landing at 5:56 a.m. EDT, about 40 minutes before sunrise. 

"That's awesome news, thanks so much," shuttle commander Ferguson said after getting the word from Mission Control. 

Ground controllers also told Ferguson that they would not require Atlantis' crew to conduct an extra inspection of the shuttle's heat shield after a prior survey found "extremely minor" damage at one tile site, deputy space shuttle manager LeRoy Cain said. 

The inspections have been required on every mission since 2003, when shuttle Columbia broke apart as it returned to Earth, killing all seven crewmembers. 

In another positive development, NASA on Monday said a piece of orbital debris that had been projected to pass near the station about the time of Tuesday's spacewalk was not a threat. The debris, part of a defunct Soviet satellite, should pass about 11 miles from the station. 

NASA figures that over a six-month period, the space station has a 1-in-100 chance of being hit by a piece of debris and sustaining damage that might have to force the crew to evacuate part of the station, said spokesman Kelly Humphries. 

Overall, the chance of a debris strike to the shuttle during its 12-day flight is 1-in-314. www.raju0167.blogspot.com

Scientists find way to map brain's complexity

 Scientists say they have moved a step closer to developing a computer model of the brain after finding a way to map both the connections and functions of nerve cells in the brain together for the first time. 

In a study in the journal Nature on Sunday, researchers from Britain's University College London (UCL) described a technique developed in mice which enabled them to combine information about the function of neurons with details of their connections. 

The study is part of an emerging area of neuroscience research known as 'connectomics'. A little like genomics, which maps our genetic make-up, connectomics aims to map the brain's connections, known as synapses. 

By untangling and being able to map these connections -- and deciphering how information flows through the brain's circuits -- scientists hope to understand how thoughts and perceptions are generated in the brain and how these functions go wrong in diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and stroke. 

"We are beginning to untangle the complexity of the brain," said Tom Mrsic-Flogel, who led the study. 

"Once we understand the function and connectivity of nerve cells spanning different layers of the brain, we can begin to develop a computer simulation of how this remarkable organ works." 

But he said would take many years of work among scientists and huge computer processing power before that could be done. 

In a report of his research, Mrsic-Flogel explained how mapping the brain's connections is no small feat: There are an estimated one hundred billion nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain, each connected to thousands of other nerve cells, he said, making an estimated 150 trillion synapses. 

"How do we figure out how the brain's neural circuitry works? We first need to understand the function of each neuron and find out to which other brain cells it connects," he said. 

In this study, Mrsic-Flogel's team focused on vision and looked into the visual cortex of the mouse brain, which contains thousands of neurons and millions of different connections. 

Using high resolution imaging, they were able to detect which of these neurons responded to a particular stimulus. 

Taking a slice of the same tissue, the scientists then applied small currents to subsets of neurons to see which other neurons responded and which of them were synaptically connected. 

By repeating this technique many times, they were able to trace the function and connectivity of hundreds of nerve cells in visual cortex. 

Using this method, the team hopes to begin generating a wiring diagram of a brain area with a particular function, such as the visual cortex. The technique should also help them map the wiring of regions that underpin touch, hearing and movement. 

John Williams, head of neuroscience and mental health at the Wellcome Trust medical charity, which helped fund the study, said understanding the brain's inner workings was one of science's "ultimate goals." 

"This important study presents neuroscientists with one of the key tools that will help them begin to navigate and survey the landscape of the brain," he said. 

End of the space shuttle era

 

Countdown clocks at the Kennedy Space Center began ticking on Tuesday toward the final flight in the 30-year-old U.S. space shuttle program, a cargo run to the International Space Station. 

Liftoff of shuttle Atlantis carrying astronauts is set for 11:26 a.m. EDT on Friday, though meteorologists are concerned about the weather. 

An approaching front is expected to cloud central Florida's skies beginning on Thursday, stirring up thunderstorms right around Friday's launch time. 

"I wish I had a better weather briefing for you," Air Force meteorologist Kathy Winters told reporters on Tuesday. 

Overall, the chance of an on-time liftoff is 40 percent, Winters said. 

Conditions improve for Atlantis launch opportunities on Saturday and Sunday. An unmanned Delta rocket launch from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which uses the same launch support personnel and equipment, would bump the next flight opportunity for Atlantis after Sunday to July 16. 

Whenever Atlantis is launched, it will be the last launch from Kennedy Space Center for a while. 

NASA is in the midst of remodeling one of the shuttle's two launch pads for a variety of commercial uses. The agency hopes to use the second shuttle launch pad for a future heavy-lift rocket, capable of sending astronauts and cargo to destinations beyond the space station's 220-mile-high orbit. 

But the shuttle program is ending with no firm details of NASA's human space ventures beyond the station, which will be serviced by a mix of commercial and partner countries' launch vehicles. 

For now, the Kennedy Space Center launch team has one goal in mind: getting Atlantis safely into orbit. 

"The team gets into the mode of 'this is launch countdown' and that's really the focus that everybody has," said NASA official Jeremy Graeber. "To do it one more time is a great feeling."