Unexplained gravity detected on the moon

On September 10, 2011 NASA launched the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) satellites on a mission to the Moon. GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B are nearly identical spacecraft, except that B is designed to follow A around the Moon in the same orbit. The Lunar Gravity Ranging System will measure the distance between the two spacecraft, watching for minute deflections caused by anomalous mass concentrations or mass deficits beneath the Moon’s surface.

In the image at the top of the page, anomalous areas of increased and decreased expectations were mapped by the Lunar Prospector in 1998-1999. Anything in yellow indicates what computer models of the Moon predicted. Red and purple mean that there is a higher gravity field than expected, while blue and green indicate a lower field. On the left, red concentrations that do not correspond to simulations do correspond to the great maria, or “seas” on the Moon. The five largest are Mare Imbrium, Mare Serenitatus, Mare Crisium, Mare Humorum and Mare Nectaris. On the right, or the farside of the Moon, circular areas of lower gravity can be seen.

There is a major elevation difference between the two hemispheres, as well. The nearside of the Moon is flat, with vast maria, whereas the farside is dominated by mountains and is heavily cratered.

via picture of the day | thunderbolts.info.

Water supersaturation in the Martian atmosphere discovered

New analysis of data sent back by the SPICAM spectrometer on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft has revealed for the first time that the planet’s atmosphere is supersaturated with water vapour. This surprising discovery has major implications for understanding the Martian water cycle and the historical evolution of the atmosphere.

… Until now, it was generally assumed that such supersaturation cannot exist in the cold Martian atmosphere: any water vapour in excess of saturation was expected to be converted immediately into ice. However, the SPICAM data have revealed that supersaturation occurs frequently in the middle atmosphere – at altitudes of up to 50 km above the surface – during the aphelion season, the period when Mars is near its farthest point from the Sun.

Extremely high levels of supersaturation were found on Mars, up to 10 times greater than those found on Earth. Clearly, there is much more water vapour in the upper Martian atmosphere than anyone ever imagined. It seems that previous models have greatly underestimated the quantities of water vapour at heights of 20–50 km, with as much as 10 to 100 times more water than expected at this altitude.

“The vertical distribution of water vapour is a key factor in the study of Mars’ hydrological cycle, and the old paradigm that it is mainly controlled by saturation physics now needs to be revised,” said Luca Maltagliati. “Our finding has major implications for understanding the planet’s global climate and the transport of water from one hemisphere to the other.”

“The data suggest that much more water vapour is being carried high enough in the atmosphere to be affected by photodissociation,” added Franck Montmessin, also from LATMOS, who is the Principal Investigator for SPICAM and a co-author of the paper.

“Solar radiation can split the water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen atoms, which can then escape into space. This has implications for the rate at which water has been lost from the planet and for the long-term evolution of the Martian surface and atmosphere.” …

via Water supersaturation in the Martian atmosphere discovered.

Single dose of ‘magic mushrooms’ hallucinogen may create lasting personality change, study suggests

A single high dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms,” was enough to bring about a measurable personality change lasting at least a year in nearly 60 percent of the 51 participants in a new study, according to the Johns Hopkins researchers who conducted it.

Lasting change was found in the part of the personality known as openness, which includes traits related to imagination, aesthetics, feelings, abstract ideas and general broad-mindedness. Changes in these traits, measured on a widely used and scientifically validated personality inventory, were larger in magnitude than changes typically observed in healthy adults over decades of life experiences, the scientists say. Researchers in the field say that after the age of 30, personality doesn’t usually change significantly.

“Normally, if anything, openness tends to decrease as people get older,” says study leader Roland R. Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The research, approved by Johns Hopkins’ Institutional Review Board, was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.  …

Personality was assessed at screening, one to two months after each drug session and approximately 14 months after the last drug session. Griffiths says he believes the personality changes found in this study are likely permanent since they were sustained for over a year by many.

Nearly all of the participants in the new study considered themselves spiritually active (participating regularly in religious services, prayer or meditation). More than half had postgraduate degrees. The sessions with the otherwise illegal hallucinogen were closely monitored and volunteers were considered to be psychologically healthy

“We don’t know whether the findings can be generalized to the larger population,” Griffiths says.

As a word of caution, Griffiths also notes that some of the study participants reported strong fear or anxiety for a portion of their daylong psilocybin sessions, although none reported any lingering harmful effects. He cautions, however, that if hallucinogens are used in less well supervised settings, the possible fear or anxiety responses could lead to harmful behaviors. …

via Single dose of ‘magic mushrooms’ hallucinogen may create lasting personality change, study suggests.

Self-healing materials take cue from nature

Leila Battison – The development of self-healing materials has surged forward as scientists have taken inspiration from biological systems.

Researchers at the University of Illinois in the US have found a way to pump healing fluids around a material like the circulation of animal’s blood.

Materials that could repair themselves as they crack would have uses in civil engineering and construction.

Their results are published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Self-healing materials have been researched for nearly a decade, with a view to reducing the risks and costs of cracking and damage in a wide range of materials.

Different approaches have been taken to creating such materials, depending on the kind of material that needs to be repaired: metals, plastics, or carbon composites.

These methods include creating materials which have micro-capsules containing a healing agent embedded within them, which are broken open when the material is damaged, releasing the healing fluid that hardens and fills the crack.

While effective, this method and others are limited by the small amount of healing agent that can be contained within the material without weakening it.

But new developments in self-healing technology have been pioneered by Prof Nancy Sottos and her team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, involving the impregnation of plastics with a fine network of channels, each less than 100 millionths of a metre in diameter, that can be filled with liquid resins.

These “micro-vascular” networks penetrate the material like an animal’s circulation system, supplying healing agent to all areas, ready to be released whenever and wherever a crack appears.

Limitations still blight this technology however, as the healing process relies on the slow wicking action and diffusion of the healing agent into a crack.

The researchers have therefore taken another lesson from biology to improve on the self-healing material’s performance.

“In a biological system, fluids are pumping and flowing,” said Prof Sottos, so they have devised a way to actively pump fluids into their micro-vascular networks.

Syringes on the outside of the material put healing fluids under pressure so that when a crack appears, a constant pressure drives the fluid into the cracks. …

via BBC News – Self-healing materials take cue from nature.

Anthony Bragalia: Einstein’s Flying Saucer Secrets: “These people have seen something”

In the tape, which can be heard below, we learn that Einstein and other science notables had expressed to President Truman their concern about the unknown objects, including those seen flying above our nation’s Capitol. The scientists beseeched Truman not to attempt to shoot down the UFOs.

Related information has surfaced that reveals that Einstein had maintained a long-standing and close relationship with a physicist who was a key member of a CIA UFO study group. The group that was organized in the same year as the mass UFO flights over the Capitol.

Finally, a little-known quote from Einstein has been found buried in a 1952 newspaper that hints at Einstein’s true thoughts on the visitors in our skies. …

Read the rest: The Bragalia Files: EINSTEIN’S FLYING SAUCER SECRETS: “THESE PEOPLE HAVE SEEN SOMETHING” By Anthony Bragalia.

Idaho police close investigation into mummified hand

Police in Idaho Falls said on Tuesday they have closed an investigation into the origins of a mummified hand after learning it dates back 700 to 1,000 years.

The dismembered limb was handed over to the Museum of Idaho in Idaho Falls more than a year ago by a patron who told officials it had been in the family for years and was likely that of a Native American.

Officials at the museum presented it to police in March.

Unable to link the limb to criminal activity, Idaho Falls officers submitted it to antiquities experts with the Utah Division of State History, Idaho Falls police spokeswoman Joelyn Hansen said.

A finding by a physical anthropologist showed the hand spanned between the 11th and 14th centuries, Hansen said.

“It’s out of the reach of our jurisdiction,” she said.

The limb will likely be offered to the Indian tribes of Utah now that police have a grip on its origins.

via NewsDaily: Idaho police close investigation into mummified hand.

Japanese ‘Noah’s ark’ disaster capsule goes on sale

A Japanese company has developed a miniature version of Noah’s ark in case Japan is hit by another massive earthquake and tsunami – a floating capsule that looks like a huge tennis ball.

Engineering company Cosmo says its “Noah” shelter is made from enhanced fibreglass and could save users from disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March that devastated Japan’s northern coast and left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

The company’s president, Shoji Tanaka, said the capsule could hold four adults and had survived many crash tests.

It has a lookout window and breathing holes, and could also be used as a toy house for children.

The company said it had completed the capsule earlier this month and had received 600 orders.

via Japanese ‘Noah’s ark’ disaster capsule goes on sale | World news | The Guardian.

Prehistoric cave etchings ‘created by three-year-olds’

Archaeologist Jessica Cooney told the BBC’s David Sillito that the most prolific artist was a five-year-old girl

Prehistoric etchings found in a cave in France are the work of children as young as three, according to research.The so-called finger flutings were discovered at the Cave of a Hundred Mammoths in Rouffignac, alongside cave art dating back some 13,000 years.Cambridge University researchers recently developed a method identifying the gender and age of the artists.It is thought the most prolific was a girl aged five. The artists ran their hands down the cave’s soft surfaces.”Flutings made by children appear in every chamber throughout the caves,” said archaeologist Jess Cooney, who has pioneered the research in conjunction with Dr Leslie Van Gelder of Walden University in the US.”We have found marks by children aged between three and seven years old – and we have been able to identify four individual children by matching up their marks.”The most prolific of the children who made flutings was aged around five – and we are almost certain the child in question was a girl.”Each year thousands of people visit the caves in the Dordogne region of western France to admire drawings of mammoths, rhinoceros and horses found within the 8km cave system, which were discovered in the 16th Century.It was not until 1956 that experts realised that some of the most dramatic were prehistoric.Archaeologists first determined children had produced some of the finger flutings in 2006. Unlike the sketchings that appear elsewhere in the caves, the markings are made without the application of a colour pigment.”One cavern is so rich in flutings made by children that it suggests it was a special space for them, but whether for play or ritual is impossible to tell.” …

via BBC News – Prehistoric cave etchings ‘created by three-year-olds’.

‘Alarm clock’ gene explains wake-up function of biological clock

 

The circadian clock illustrates the many diseases that manifest in a person during certain times of the day.

Andy Hoang – Ever wondered why you wake up in the morning —- even when the alarm clock isn’t making jarring noises? Wonder no more. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a new component of the biological clock, a gene responsible for starting the clock from its restful state every morning.

The biological clock ramps up our metabolism early each day, initiating important physiological functions that tell our bodies that it’s time to rise and shine. Discovery of this new gene and the mechanism by which it starts the clock everyday may help explain the genetic underpinnings of sleeplessness, aging and chronic illnesses, such as cancer and diabetes, and could eventually lead to new therapies for these illnesses.

“The body is essentially a collection of clocks,” says Satchindananda Panda, an associate professor in Salk’s Regulatory Biology Laboratory, who led the research along with Luciano DiTacchio, a post-doctoral research associate. “We roughly knew what mechanism told the clock to wind down at night, but we didn’t know what activated us again in the morning. Now that we’ve found it, we can explore more deeply how our biological clocks malfunction as we get older and develop chronic illness.”

In a report published today in the journal Science, the Salk researchers and their collaborators at McGill University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe how the gene KDM5A encodes a protein, JARID1a, that serves as an activation switch in the biochemical circuit that maintains our circadian rhythm.

The discovery fills in a missing link in the molecular mechanisms that control our daily wake-sleep cycle. The central player of our biological clock is a protein called PERIOD (PER). The number of PER proteins in each of our cells rises and falls every 24 hours. Our cells use the level of PER protein as an indicator of the time of the day and tell our body when to sleep or be awake.

Scientists knew that two genes, CLOCK and BMAL1, served as the key drivers for raising PER protein levels. As the level of PER protein rises during the daytime, reaching its peak around evening, it somehow puts a break on CLOCK and BMAL, thereby reducing its own level during nighttime.

Falling PER protein levels at night causes our biological systems to slow: our blood pressure drops, our heart rate slows and our mental processes wind down. But, until now, the precise nature of the nighttime brake and what let CLOCK and BMAL proteins overcome this brake to raise PER protein levels again each morning was a mystery.

In their research, which was primarily funded by Salk’s Innovation Fund, Panda and his colleagues identified JARID1a, a type of enzyme, as the molecular bugle call for cells and organs to get back to work each morning. By studying the genetic mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms in human and mouse cells and in fruit flies, the researchers discovered that JARID1a was required for normal cycling, both at the cellular level and in terms of an organisms’ daily behavior.

In human and mouse cells that were genetically modified to under-produce JARID1a, the PER protein did not rise to its normal peak each day. Fruit flies that were similarly genetically altered also had low levels of PER protein. The flies lost track of time: they did not know when to sleep or wake up and took frequent naps throughout the day and night.

Digging deeper into the molecular workings of the clock, Panda and his colleagues found that each morning, JARID1a reactivates CLOCK and BMAL1 by countering the action of a brake protein HDAC1. They suspect PER protein tells HDAC1 to put a brake on its own production at night. “JARID1a tells that break to ease off, which causes CLOCK and BMAL1 drivers to rev back up every morning,” Panda says.

To support their findings about the clock’s workings, the researchers studied genetically altered mice cells and fruit flies that lacked the JARID1a gene. They inserted JARID1a into the flies’ DNA, which released the HDAC brake so the flies returned to a normal cycle. They treated mouse cells with a drug that mimics JARID1a, which allowed their biological clocks to operate normally.

via ‘Alarm clock’ gene explains wake-up function of biological clock.

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