Positive AntiNuclear Antibody (ANA) SS-B/La

I failed a test yesterday, a blood test. This is the third to show positive for the antinuclear antibody (ANA) known as anti SS-B/La. This means my immune system is attacking a protein inside the nucleus of my own cells. This is bad.  Fortunately, I do not also have the SS-A antibody, which probably indicates I don’t have Lupus (SLE) or Sjögren’s syndrome. What caused this problem and how do I fix it? The first step is to gather information, as many clues as possible…

Sjögren syndrome type B antigen (SS-B) also known as Lupus La protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SSB gene.^[1]

La is involved in diverse aspects of RNA metabolism, including binding and protecting 3-prime UUU (OH) elements of newly RNA polymerase III-transcribed RNA, processing 5-prime and 3-prime ends of pre-tRNA precursors, acting as an RNA chaperone, and binding viral RNAs associated with hepatitis C virus. La protein was originally defined by its reactivity with autoantibodies from patients with Sjögren’s syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus.^[1][2]

Sjögren syndrome antigen B has been shown to interact with nucleolin.^[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sjogren_syndrome_antigen_B

… data suggest that SS-B/La belongs to a large family of RNA-binding proteins which includes heterogeneous nuclear RNPs, nucleolin, mRNA polyadenylate binding protein, and small nuclear RNPs.
http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/6/2233.abstract

The La/SSB antigen appears to be a nuclear phosphoprotein with a molecular weight of 48 kD and is complexed with the Ro particle [26]. In addition to other functions, the La protein serves as a termination factor for RNA polymerase III [27].

• It is unusual to encounter sera that contain anti-La/SSB activity without demonstrable antibodies to Ro/SSA in patients with SLE or Sjögren’s syndrome.
• Isolated anti-La/SSB antibody activity has been seen in some patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune hepatitis.
• Antibodies to the La/SSB antigen are present in 70 to 95 percent of patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome, and in 10 to 35 percent of patients with SLE, and are occasionally seen in patients with cutaneous LE, scleroderma disorders, and rheumatoid arthritis [10,17]

http://www.uptodate.com/contents/clinical-significance-of-anti-ro-ssa-and-anti-la-ssb-antibodies

I take the flax oil daily and have no dry eye problems when I do that, but long term, I’d like to reverse the problem. What are the options? One site recommends going vegetarian:

… Mammalian tissue from food such as beef, veal, pork, cheese, milk, and ice cream is remarkably similar, at a molecular level, to your own tissue. So eating animal food may provoke an autoimmune flare. This is why I highly recommend adopting a vegetarian diet for those who have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder.

The best choices for oils in autoimmune disease are flax, olive, and coconut. Human clinical studies have also shown that fish oil can induce clinical remission of MS, rheumatoid arthritis, and other inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis and psoriasis. Look for a fish oil that is cold-pressed, and take at least 2,000 mg daily of mixed DHA and EPA.

Antioxidants are also important in reversing immune system confusion, but they must be taken synergistically. Vitamin E taken alone can potentially oxidize because it’s a polyunsaturated fat. To prevent oxidation, take vitamin E in conjunction with vitamin C and selenium. To halt and maybe even reverse your autoimmune process, take vitamin E in high doses of up to 1,600 IUs per day, with 3—5 g of vitamin C and 400 mcg of selenium.

via Better Nutrition Magazine :: Supplements, Nutrition, Recipes, Personal Care :: Columns :: Ask the Naturopath.

The Weston A Price people would disagree, but how many people have they cured of autoimmune problems? Where is the documentation of any such claims? If I do have autoimmune hepatitis, how is that cured?

Autoimmune hepatitis is a disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the liver… , which can range from mild to severe. … The exact mechanism whereby the body’s own immune system attacks the liver is not yet known. It appears that certain types of white blood cells (the type of blood cell that usually fights infection), in addition to attacking foreign substances (e.g. germs and viruses) misread liver cells as foreign substances and start attacking these cells. The type of damage that follows is known as chronic hepatitis. A number of other conditions can cause identical patterns of liver damage. … It is absolutely not contagious. It is generally not considered an inherited disease but a tendency to autoimmune diseases may run in some families. That is, children of patients with autoimmune hepatitis may be at slightly increased risk of developing autoimmune diseases of the thyroid or liver or arthritis. The risk, however, is only slightly greater than the normal population … Blood tests will almost always reveal elevations of ALT and AST enzymes that the liver makes. In addition, other blood tests will reveal antibodies directed against parts of different cells, such as anti-smooth muscle antibody and antinuclear factor. Your doctor, on examining you, may find abnormalities suggestive of chronic liver disease such as a large liver, jaundice, and certain signs noticeable on the skin…. milk thistle or its active ingredient, silymarin, has been studied, and has no beneficial effect. Standard treatments such as prednisone have been proven to delay or prevent progression to cirrhosis and thus save lives. It is ill-advised to delay or not take standard treatments in the hope that alternative remedies may work …Since we do not know exactly what causes autoimmune hepatitis, we do not yet have a medical cure for the condition.

via Liver.CA

“We don’t know yet” is not an acceptable answer to me. I’ll have to keep looking. Probably a virus.  I’m consulting a Rheumatologist, who probably won’t have any ideas about a cure, but at least I can check out the liver infection idea and then move on. Another clue:

SSB (La) antibody is seen in 50-60% of Sjögren syndrome cases and is specific if it is the only ENA antibody present. Fifteen-25% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 5-10% of patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) also have this antibody.

What is progressive systemic sclerosis?

Scleroderma is a connective tissue disease that involves changes in the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. It is a type of autoimmune disorder, a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. …  The cause of scleroderma is unknown. People with this condition have a buildup of a substance called collagen in the skin and other organs. This buildup leads to the symptoms of the disease. The disease usually affects people 30 to 50 years old. … Some people with scleroderma have a history of being around silica dust and polyvinyl chloride, but most do not.

Where I have this one or not, my problem may be due to poisoning by plastics or some dental adhesive. I drink out of plastic bottles every day and have for years, but I use type 1 polyethylene instead of type 3 which is PVC/vinyl. I was tested for SS-B in the past. It was negative on 2/8/2010 and positive 5/23/2012 so what happened during those years? 9/11 attacks, changed cologne, had dental work, a friend with Lupus …

What I don’t understand, really, is why my body keeps making this particular ANA. Once your body learns to make a particular anti-nuclear antibody, you just keep making it? That seems unlikely. Is the anti-SSB always in response to an actual SSB/La protein being present in the nucleus of a person’s cells? Or is there some toxin/virus in my system that is causing me to produce the attack chemical which then mistakenly attacks my own cells?

STEP 1: My nutritionist has been telling me to give up plastic bottles! Okay, okay, starting today, no more water from plastic bottles. I’ll use stainless steel for a few years and see if that makes a difference.

Water is often bottled in #1 PET or PETE bottles (polyethylene terephthalate), which may or may not leach DEHA, a known carcinogen, into the water. Experts agree that you should not re-use #1 plastic bottles. Plastics numbered 3, 6 and 7 are worse; they contain Bisphenol A (BPA), which is suspected of causing neurological and behavioral problems in fetuses and children. BPA mimics the female hormone estrogen, which may have detrimental effects, including cancer of the brain, breast, and prostate, on the female reproductive system and the immune system in adults. … Water is often bottled in #1 PET or PETE bottles (polyethylene terephthalate), which may or may not leach DEHA, a known carcinogen, into the water. Experts agree that you should not re-use #1 plastic bottles. Plastics numbered 3, 6 and 7 are worse; they contain Bisphenol A (BPA), which is suspected of causing neurological and behavioral problems in fetuses and children. BPA mimics the female hormone estrogen, which may have detrimental effects, including cancer of the brain, breast, and prostate, on the female reproductive system and the immune system in adults.

http://flourishonline.org/2010/08/so-whats-the-big-deal-with-plastic-water-bottles/

What’s the problem with #1 plastic bottles?

Mediocre Plastic: (contains BPA which is released over time)
#1 Recycling symbol– Designed for one-time use only. Also labeled as PETE (Polyethyl Tetra Ethelene)
This is the type of bottle that water is usually sold in. Do not refill this bottle – the chemical bond breaks down over time, and then can transfer BPA into the liquid. Many people who are concerned about the environmental impact of using a bottle only once and then throwing it away will refill #1 bottles. We don’t recommend this because over time, as they are tumbled around in your car, become dented, etc. BPA is released. We suggest you avoid buying #1 bottles whenever possible, and switch to refillable stainless steel or glass bottles, a much better alternative for both you and the environment.

http://www.vitalearthminerals.com/are-all-plastics-bad/

Could long term BPA exposure trigger the SS-B ANA?

More notes:

It is poorly understood how ANCA are developed, although several hypotheses have been suggested. There is probably a genetic contribution, particularly in genes controlling the level of immune response – although genetic susceptibility is likely to be linked to an environmental factor, some possible factors including vaccination or exposure to silicates. Two possible mechanisms of ANCA development are postulated, although neither of these theories answers the question of how the different ANCA specificities are developed, and there is much research still being undertaken on the development of ANCA.^[3]

wikipedia.org

Scientists ID new species of monkey in Congo

A team of scientists has identified a new species of monkey in central Africa that had been known to the locals simply as lesula, a medium-sized, slender animal that looks similar to an owl-faced monkey that was already known to scientists.

In findings published this week in the scientific journal Plos One, the researchers identified the species as Cercopithecus lomamiensis, which is endemic to the lowland rainforests of central Congo. This is only the second time in the past 28 years that a previously unknown species of monkey has been identified, they said, highlighting the importance of preserving biodiversity in a part of central Africa where forests are threatened by illegal logging.

Scientists began investigating in June 2007, when researchers saw a young female monkey of unknown species at the home of a school director. The new monkey was not quite similar to the clearly owl-faced Cercopithecus hamlyni, but researchers say the two are close relatives. The new findings prove the two monkeys are different species, even though to local hunters they might look similar. A lesula, for example, has “significantly larger incisors, upper and lower second molars…” A male lesula “emits a characteristic low frequency, descending, loud call or boom” that is distinguishable from the vocalizations of the other male, the scientists reported.

Robert Kityo, a zoology professor at Uganda’s Makerere University, said the discovery is proof that Africa’s vast jungles are teeming with species yet to be discovered.

“Something that was thought to be abundant can turn out to be rare,” Kityo said, referring to the previous confusion between lesula and a close relative. “In a sense, it’s a nice find.”

The research team described lesula as “semi terrestrial with a diet containing terrestrial herbaceous vegetation.” The ape looks colorful in pictures, with a mane of “long grizzled blond hairs” and “a variably distinct cream colored vertical nose stipe,” as it is described by the scientists. There is a faintly owlish look about the monkey. The eyes look almost human.

The team said the monkey’s common name should not be changed, since lesula is used over most of its known range. The study was a collaboration between various researchers and schools in the U.S. and elsewhere. Their final paper was edited by Samuel T. Turvey of the Zoological Society of London.

via Scientists ID new species of monkey in Congo – Home » Other Sections » Breaking News.

Game makers accused of spying in Greece transferred to Lesbos

Two game developers visiting Greece have been arrested on suspicion of spying.

The two men, who work for developer Bohemia Interactive, were arrested outside a military base on the island of Limnos.

A Bohemia spokesman said the pair had simply been on holiday on Limnos.

The Prague-based game maker has clashed with the authorities on Limnos before, over its use of detailed maps of the island.

In a statement published on its website, Bohemia said the two men had travelled there “with the sole purpose of experiencing the island’s beautiful surroundings”.

Bohemia said it was doing all it could to support the arrested men, who have now been transferred to Lesbos where they will be formally charged in the island’s district court, and their families.

“We sincerely hope that this is an unfortunate misunderstanding of their passion as artists and creators of virtual worlds,” it added.

Bohemia is best known for the Arma military simulation games, and the next version of the title, Arma III, is set on a highly detailed digital version of Limnos, based on images, video and data gathered during a series of research trips to the island.

In an interview with games news website CVG, Bohemia said it had been criticised for gathering the information by the local government on Limnos, which had said it had been “strategically problematic” that such detailed maps had been created.

 

Bohemia said it had used only publicly available information to build its virtual environments and much of the footage it had gathered was of trees, shrubs and flowers.

“We always respect the law and we’ve never instructed anybody to violate the laws of any country,” it added.

via BBC News – Game makers arrested over alleged spying in Greece.

Just for a bit of history, the word “Lesbian” comes from the Greek island, Lesbos (or Lesvos), where the female poet Sappho lived. Sappho wrote ten books of verse by the third and second centuries B.C.E. mostly about relationships between women, but by the Middle Ages, all copies were lost.

 

Boiling water without bubbles

Every cook knows that boiling water bubbles, right? New research from Northwestern University turns that notion on its head. “We manipulated what has been known for a long, long time by using the right kind of texture and chemistry to prevent bubbling during boiling,” said Neelesh A. Patankar, professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and co-author of the study.

This discovery could help reduce damage to surfaces, prevent bubbling explosions and may someday be used to enhance heat transfer equipment, reduce drag on ships and lead to anti-frost technologies.

Published Sept. 13 in the journal Nature, the research outlines how a specially engineered coated surface can create a stable vapor cushion between the surface and a hot liquid and eliminate the bubbles that are created during boiling.

This phenomenon is based on the Leidenfrost effect. In 1756 the German scientist Johann Leidenfrost observed that water drops skittered on a sufficiently hot skillet, bouncing across the surface of the skillet on a vapor cushion or film of steam. The vapor film collapses as the surface falls below the Leidenfrost temperature. When the water droplet hits the surface of the skillet, at 100 degrees Celsius, boiling temperature, it bubbles.

To stabilize a Leidenfrost vapor film and prevent bubbling during boiling, Patankar collaborated with Ivan U. Vakarelski of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia. Vakarelski led the experiments and Patankar provided the theory. The collaboration also included Derek Chan, professor of mathematics and statistics from the University of Melbourne in Australia.

In their experiments, the stabilization of the Leidenfrost vapor film was achieved by making the surface of tiny steel spheres very water-repellant. The spheres were sprayed with a commercially available hydrophobic coating — essentially self-assembled nanoparticles — combined with other water-hating chemicals to achieve the right amount of roughness and water repellency. At the correct length scale this coating created a surface texture full of tiny peaks and valleys.

When the steel spheres were heated to 400 degrees Celsius and dropped into room temperature water, water vapors formed in the valleys of the textured surface, creating a stable Leidenfrost vapor film that did not collapse once the spheres cooled to the temperature of boiling water. In the experiments, researchers completely avoided the bubbly phase of boiling. …

via Boiling water without bubbles.

Conflict and ‘boom-bust’ explain humans’ rapid evolution

What explains the extraordinarily fast rate of evolution in the human lineage over the past two million years?

A leading human origins researcher has come up with an idea that involves aggression between groups and the boom-bust cycles that have punctuated our spread into new environments.

Prof Ian Tattersall said there were few examples to rival the accelerated evolution that led to our species.

He was speaking at this year’s Calpe conference in Gibraltar.

“However you slice it, evolution within this [human family] has been very rapid indeed,” Prof Tattersall, from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York, told the conference.

“I think it’s fair to say that our species Homo sapiens and its antecedents have come much farther, much faster than any other mammalian group that has been documented in this very tight time-frame.”

This phenomenon of accelerated evolution is known as “tachytely”.

Among our ancestors, brain size doubled between two million and one million years ago. Then it has almost doubled again between one million years and the present day.

Along with the increase in brain size came a reduction in the size of the teeth and face along with other changes in the skull.

The increase in brain size seems to have coincided with a modern physique characterised by a linear shape, long legs and relatively narrow hips. These features can already be seen in the skeleton of the “Turkana boy” from Kenya, who lived about two million years ago.

This contrasts sharply with the short legs and long arms of the Turkana boy’s antecedent “Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis), who lived in Ethiopia about one million years earlier.

Such fast change is not seen among apes, and while Prof Tattersall acknowledges the importance of the move our ancestors made from a tree-dwelling, to a ground-dwelling existence – something which has not affected our primate cousins – he says it is not enough to explain what is observed.

“Clearly the definitive abandonment of dependence on trees… has to count as one of the most radical shifts in adaptive zone ever made by any vertebrate since the very first tetrapod heaved itself out of water and on to terra firma,” he said.

“Under natural conditions, it is very hard to see how the initial invasion of a new ecozone by hominids could have so consistently driven rapid change over the long period of time that we’re talking about.” …

via BBC News – Conflict and ‘boom-bust’ explain humans’ rapid evolution.

Or … Aliens messed with our DNA… several times.

Car smashes into couple’s upstairs bedroom in Epsom, Surrey, as they sleep

The homeowners were asleep in the early hours of Sunday morning when the silver coloured Lexus took flight, completely destroying one side of the property in Epsom, Surrey.

Police said the vehicle mounted a parked Audi before hitting the side of the house, causing ‘considerable damage’ to the pair’s master bedroom.

One shocked neighbour explained how the car sounded like ‘a plane falling out of the sky’ when it crashed into the house.

The driver of the car and two passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the crash which also caused damage to five cars, a post box and a fence. …

‘It sounded like what I would imagine a plane coming out of the sky would,’ explained one neighbour.

‘I think it flew about 80ft before it came to a rest in the side of the house.

‘The family inside were so incredibly lucky to escape without a scratch.

‘It actually went into the couple’s bedroom and their two children were asleep next door.’

While another added: ‘Bridge Road is on a very tight junction and it looks to me that the driver may have been speeding and taken the corner too quickly.’

via Car smashes into couple’s upstairs bedroom in Epsom, Surrey, as they sleep | Metro.co.uk.

Most distant galaxy shines light on early universe

Light from the young galaxy—captured by NASA’s orbiting Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes—started its sojourn toward Earth when the now-13.7-billion-year-old universe was just 500 million years old.

The far-off galaxy is seen as it existed during an important period, when the universe began to transit out of its so-called “Dark Ages.” During this period, the universe went from a dark, starless expanse to a recognizable cosmos full of galaxies.

The discovery of the faint, small galaxy opens up a window into the deepest, remotest epochs of cosmic history.

“This galaxy is the most distant object we have ever observed with high confidence,” says Wei Zheng, a principal research scientist in physics and astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University and lead author of a paper appearing in Nature on Sept. 20.

“Future work involving this galaxy—as well as others like it that we hope to find—will allow us to study the universe’s earliest objects and how the Dark Ages ended,” adds Zheng.

Five wavebands

Light from the primordial galaxy traveled approximately 13.2 billion light-years before reaching NASA’s telescopes. In other words, the starlight snagged by Spitzer and Hubble left the galaxy when the universe was just 3.6 percent of its present age.

Unlike previous detections of possible galaxies in this age range, which were only glimpsed in a single color, or waveband, this newfound galaxy has been seen in five different wavebands. …

About 400,000 years after the Big Bang, neutral hydrogen gas formed from cooling particles. The first luminous stars and their host galaxies, however, did not emerge until a few hundred million years later.

The energy released by these earliest galaxies is thought to have caused the neutral hydrogen strewn throughout the universe to ionize, or lose an electron, the state in which the gas has remained since that time.

“In essence, during the epoch of reionization, the lights came on in the universe,” says co-author Leonidas Moustakas, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology. …

via Futurity.org – Most distant galaxy shines light on early universe.

Three-year old revered as healer

Ray Rong, 3, blesses bottles of water in Svay Chrum village, Prey Veng province. Hundreds of people come to see the child and get the water every day, believing it can heal their illnesses. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Even before dawn, a few hundred people have gathered to sit in line, reminiscent of the queues of waiting patients which snakes outside the grounds of the Kantha Bopha Hospital during pandemics.

They have travelled from different cities and provinces to get a chance to be healed by Ray Rong, a resident of Prey Veng’s Svay Chrum village. Rong is known far and wide as one of the best healers in the area, and the blessing water and herbal medicines he gives to patients are claimed to defeat a hundred different kinds of diseases. Many other traditional healers proffer the same goods, but there’s one important difference: Rong is only three years old.

Still too young to speak clearly, Ray Rong is the third child of five to Tep Saray and Un Saroeurn, a pair of impoverished farmers.

In the last couple of months, the boy has risen to fame on the back of claims that he has healed hundreds of people. Every day, at least two hundred patients, including some from across the border of nearby Vietnam, wait outside his house to get blessed water and medicine. Some of Rong’s patients travel hundreds of kilometres and spend several nights sleeping near the toddler’s house in the hopes of getting a chance to meet him.

The 60-year-old Yay Hom was one of Ray Rong’s patients, who brought incense, candles, cake and pure drinking water as an offering to the child healer.

“I have to wait for my turn to be called in and see the healer,” she says. “I have suffered from diabetes for 10 years. My blood sugar level was never less than 410 mg/dL.” (Healthy blood sugar levels range from 70-180 milligrams per decilitre.) “I took medication and saw other doctors, but I never felt better. After the holy child gave me magic water to drink and some fig fruits, my blood sugar level dropped to 110 mg/dL.”

Srey Sokhon, another patient from Phnom Penh, told 7Days that she rented a nearby house for four nights while waiting for her turn to be called in.

“I suffered from a condition that made my whole body go numb,” she says. “I visited many famous doctors in the cities, but it never got better. After I asted the holy water, I felt much better and I was able to eat properly.”

Srey Sokhon says she hopes the water and a prescription of herbal medicine from Ray Rong will help cure her disease completely.

Not all the patients have been as lucky as these two, however. Recently the healer himself became ill. Prom Hay, had already been waiting for five days when 7Days visited Svay Chrum, still had not been seen by Rong.

“I’ve waited and waited, but I still cannot get any medicine,” the woman complains. “I was told that the doctor is ill, so he cannot prescribe herbal medicine; he can only give his magic water to patients.”

However, the woman was determined to continue her wait until the doctor recovered.

Chim Yun and Prach Youk are Ray Rong’s elderly relatives. They say that the child healer’s fame has not made their family happy, because people claiming to be from TV stations and newspapers have tried to extort them.

“People believe that the child can cure their disease,” they say. “The water and medicine work for them. The young doctor helps his patients..”

Rong’s grandfather, Yorm Yun, recalls that a few months ago that his eldest daughter suffered so much pain as a result of an illness that she almost committed suicide. Rong, who could onlyh speak a few words, said he would find medicine for his aunt, running out of the house and pointing his finger at a strange wild plant. The family then cut the plant and dried it under the sun before boiling it in water.

His aunt suddenly felt better after drinking the concoction.

Yorm Yun also says that Rong’s father was an alcoholic until the healer offered him some water. Since then, the man has given up drinking.

News of these two feats travelled quickly, and people started flocking to the child’s house, asking for magic water and herbal medicine. …

via Three-year old revered as healer.

NASA’s Opportunity discovers ‘blueberries’ on Mars

NASA’s long-lived Mars rover Opportunity has returned an image of the Martian surface that is puzzling researchers.

Spherical objects concentrated at an outcrop Opportunity reached last week differ in several ways from iron-rich spherules nicknamed “blueberries” the rover found at its landing site in early 2004 and at many other locations to date.

Opportunity is investigating an outcrop called Kirkwood in the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The spheres measure as much as one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter. The analysis is still preliminary, but it indicates that these spheres do not have the high iron content of Martian blueberries.

“This is one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission,” Opportunity’s principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y, said.

“Kirkwood is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects. Of course, we immediately thought of the blueberries, but this is something different. We never have seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars,” he said.

The Martian blueberries found elsewhere by Opportunity are concretions formed by action of mineral-laden water inside rocks, evidence of a wet environment on early Mars.

Concretions result when minerals precipitate out of water to become hard masses inside sedimentary rocks. Many of the Kirkwood spheres are broken and eroded by the wind. Where wind has partially etched them away, a concentric structure is evident.

Opportunity used the microscopic imager on its arm to look closely at Kirkwood. Researchers checked the spheres’ composition by using an instrument called the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer on Opportunity’s arm.

“They seem to be crunchy on the outside, and softer in the middle,” Squyres said.

via NASA’s Opportunity discovers ‘blueberries’ on Mars.

Chester Zoo: Perfect imprint of an elephant left in the sand where it fell asleep

On first glance, you might be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled across an impressive piece of wildlife art.

The fine detail – right down to the elephant’s trunk and eyes – shows the perfect outline of the gigantic beast.

But this is not the work of an artist. Nor is it likely to remain in the spot where it was found for too much longer.

This incredible image shows the imprint of Sundara, an eight-year-old Asian elephant, where it fell asleep in the sand at Chester Zoo.

Staff at the zoo were amazed when they ventured into the elephants’ enclosure and found the perfectly-preserved impression of the animal’s head in the ground.

The indentation is so clear, it even shows the fine detail of the ridges on the animal’s trunk, as well as its ear and eyes.

The enclosure’s two elephants had fallen asleep on the ground, side-by-side, and – judging by the imprint – Sundara did not appear to move too much during its jumbo slumber.

And, in another stroke of luck, it didn’t seem to disturb the impressive artwork when it arose from its snooze. …

via Chester Zoo: Perfect imprint of an elephant left in the sand where it fell asleep | Mail Online.