June 18, 2012

Man upset over sandwich order calls 911 


A Connecticut man knows how he likes his sandwich, and so does the 911 dispatcher who took his call on Wednesday afternoon complaining about how it was made.

“I specifically asked for little turkey, and little ham, a lot of cheese and a lot of mayonnaise and they are giving me a hard time. I wonder if you can stop by and just … ,” he said when he called 911 from Grateful Deli in East Hartford on Wednesday afternoon.

You can listen to the full call here.

But, here are the highlights: The dispatcher remains calm and manages to calm Rother McLennon down, all while trying to make him realize...
June 18 2012

Neutrons escaping to a parallel world?


In a paper recently published in European Physical Journal C, researchers hypothesised the existence of mirror particles to explain the anomalous loss of neutrons observed experimentally. The existence of such mirror matter had been suggested in various scientific contexts some time ago, including the search for suitable dark matter candidates.
June 18 2012

European Arctic forests expansion could result in carbon dioxide release: study

Carbon stored in Arctic tundra could be released into the atmosphere by new trees growing in the warmer region, exacerbating climate change, scientists have revealed.

The Arctic is getting greener as plant growth increases in response to a warmer climate. This greater plant growth means more carbon is stored in the increasing biomass, so it was previously thought the greening would result in more carbon dioxide being taken up from the atmosphere, thus helping to reduce the rate of global warming.
June 18 2012


Ancient warming greened Antarctica, research finds


A new university-led study with NASA participation finds ancient Antarctica was much warmer and wetter than previously suspected. The climate was suitable to support substantial vegetation -- including stunted trees -- along the edges of the frozen continent.

The team of scientists involved in the study, published online June 17 in Nature Geoscience, was led by Sarah J. Feakins of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and included researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
June 18 2012


New model suggests ocean pH falling more rapidly

A new computer model developed in Switzerland shows that the pH of the ocean waters off the west coast of the US will fall over the next four decades faster than previously thought. The region studied is on the eastern boundary of an upwelling zone, and is important for commercial fishing and for its diversity in marine life.

An upwelling zone is one in which waters from the deep ocean well up to replace water displaced by summer surface winds, which push water away from the coast. The upwelled deep water tends to contain high concentrations of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) from the respiration of microbes on the ocean floor, and this adds to the dissolved atmospheric CO2, which is rising, producing a region of marked decreases in pH.
June 18 2012


Japanese Find Whaling Leftovers Unappetizing

Every month between November 2011 and March 2012, Japanese officials conducted auctions in an attempt to sell whale meat from the country's "scientific" whaling program in the North Pacific. The total amount of whale meat on the block: 1211.9 tons. Total amount sold: 303.1 tons. Total amount remaining: 908.8 tons.

Writing on the website of Japan's Dolphin and Whale Action Network, journalist Junko Sakuma not only revealed the figures but also provided a breakdown showing that while tail meat (which is considered the prime cut) from minke whales sold out, similar meat from Bryde's whales could barely sell at all, even when the asking price was dropped by half. As for sei whale meat: well, don't even ask about sei whale meat.
June 18 2012


'Echoes' of the Big Bang Misinterpreted?

Seeing is believing, except when you don't believe what you see.

This is according to veteran radio astronomer Gerrit Verschuur, of the University of Memphis, who has an outrageously unorthodox theory that if true, would turn modern cosmology upside down.

He proposes that at least some of the fine structure seen in the all-sky plot of the universe's cosmic microwave background is really the imprint of our local interstellar neighborhood. It has nothing to do with how the universe looked 380,000 years after the Big Bang, but how nearby clouds of cold hydrogen looked a few hundred years ago.
June 18 2012

Controversial John the Baptist relics – right place, right date

A knuckle bone claimed to be of John the Baptist has been dated to the first century AD by Oxford researchers. The new dating evidence supports claims that bones found under a church floor in Bulgaria may be of the leading prophet and relative of Jesus, as described in the Bible.

The research by the Oxford University team will be explored in a documentary ‘Head of John the Baptist’ to be aired in the UK on National Geographic Channel on Sunday 17 June.

A team from the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit at Oxford University dated a knuckle bone from the right hand. The researchers were surprised when they discovered the very early age of the remains adding, however, that dating evidence alone cannot prove the bones to be of John the Baptist.
June 18 2012

Mickey on Mercury? That's goofy!


We've had the Face on Mars, the Smiley Face on Mars, even the Elephant Face on Mars — and now we've got the Mickey Mouse Face on Mercury, courtesy of NASA's Messenger probe.

The mousy shape comes from three overlapping craters in Mercury's southern hemisphere, northwest of a larger crater known as Magritte. The biggest crater in this scene, which serves as Mickey's head, measures about 65 miles (105 kilometers) across.

This picture was taken during Messenger's extended mission, with the aim of collecting imagery when the sun is near the horizon. Such conditions produce long shadows that highlight small-scale surface features. The result is that the Mercury mission's mapmakers get a better sense of the lay of the land.
June 18 2012

NRC Committee Finds That Humans Are Triggering Quakes


Pumping all manner of fluids into deep rock formations has triggered earthquakes strong enough to cause a bit of damage while seriously rattling the local populace, a committee of the National Research Council (NRC) concluded in a report released today.

Fracking for natural gas and oil, formally known as hydraulic fracturing, has been responsible for only one or two triggering episodes, the committee found. But hundreds of felt quakes in 13 states have been produced by the deep injection of wastewater from fracking and other industrial activities, as well as the creation of geothermal energy sites, the enhanced recovery of oil and gas, and even the simple extraction of oil and gas. And capturing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from power plants and pumping it into the ground "may have potential for inducing larger seismic events," the committee found, because much larger volumes would be involved.
June 18 2012

Scared grasshoppers change soil chemistry


Grasshoppers who die frightened leave their mark in the Earth in a way that more mellow ones do not, US and Israeli researchers have discovered.

"Indeed this sounds a little bit weird," says lead author Dr Dror Hawlena in an audio interview posted on the journal Science's website.

Hawlena, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, along with colleagues at Yale University devised a test to measure the legacy of grasshoppers who were scared by spiders.
June 18 2012

Pilotless US space plane lands after 469 days in orbit


WASHINGTON — A pilotless space plane developed by the US Air Force has landed safely back on Earth after spending 469 days in orbit, officials said.

The robotic X-37B, a sort of miniature space shuttle weighing just five tonnes and measuring some 29 feet (8.8 meters) long, touched down Saturday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in western California, the Air Force said in a statement.

The reusable plane had launched from Cape Canaveral in southern Florida in March 2011 carrying "secret" equipment, feeding media speculation about its true mission.
June 17 2012 (updated June 18 2012)

Five-year-old girl unveils new art exhibition in New York



Bright, vivid, playful are words used to describe the paintings created by five-year old Australian artist Aelita Andre.

Already an art prodigy, her bold masterful style has already garnered her worldwide attention, solo art exhibitions and the distinction of being the youngest professional painter in the world.

Last year, during her art exhibition at New York's Agora Gallery, every one of her paintings sold within seven days. Now, Andre is back for seconds.
June 17 2012 (updated June 18 2012)

Britain's 'last witch': Campaign to pardon Helen Duncan


Campaigners looking to clear the name of Britain's last convicted witch may apply for a judicial review.

Spiritualist Helen Duncan was convicted in 1944 under the Witchcraft Act for fear she would reveal military secrets during World War II.

Miss Duncan, from Callander near Stirling, was arrested in Portsmouth alongside three members of her audience as she conducted a seance.

In 2008, the Scottish Parliament rejected a petition to pardon her.
June 17 2012 (updated June 18 2012)

Stalactites May Help Reconstruct Paleoclimate


Stalactites grow from cave ceilings not as dull cones but often sporting elegant corrugations. Two researchers from the Polytechnic University of Turin have now explained these mysterious, wavy patterns using standard fluid mechanics.

The new theory, detailed in the journal Physical Review Letters, shows that the horizontal ripples form because spatially periodic patterns arise in the rate of mineral deposits from the water flowing down the stalactite.

Starting from this model, climate scientists might in the future use stalactite surface structure to reconstruct variations in precipitation patterns over tens of thousands of years.
June 17 2012 (updated June 18 2012)

First Evidence of Voicemail in Nature


Dutch biologists have discovered that insects can use plants as green phones for communication with other bugs.

A new study, published in the journal Ecology Letters, shows that through those same plants insects are also able to leave ‘voicemail’ messages in the soil. Herbivorous insects store their voicemails via their effects on soil fungi. The researchers from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and Wageningen University have found this unique messaging service in the ragwort plant.
June 17 2012 (updated June 18 2012)

Flatulent cows' gas emissions measured by scientists


Agriculture is thought to contribute about eight per cent of all British greenhouse gas emissions, largely thanks to the prolific releases by cattle and other farm animals.

But the figure is wildly uncertain because there is no obvious method of measuring how much methane Daisy or Buttercup might expel during a typical day’s grazing in their field.

With no clear data on how windy each breed of cow tends to be, and how this is affected by factors like their feed type or grazing patterns, there is also little chance of farmers being able to take steps to reduce their herd’s environmental impact.
June 17 2012 (updated June 18 2012)

Mystery disc-like object stumps Baltic Sea divers


A crew of Swedish divers scavenging the Baltic Sea for treasures has shared new images of their baffling discovery — a large disc-shaped object settled on the seabed.

In a press release that sounds as if it were inspired by the underwater sci-fi film The Abyss, the unidentified object is described as circular, with rounded sides and rugged edges.

"The object had an egg-shaped hole leading into it from the top, as an opening," the release said, drawing comparisons from several media outlets to the fictional Millenium Falcon spacecraft featured in Star Wars.
June 17 2012

The UFO-shaped object found in the Baltic Sea, covered in soot, with 'little fireplaces'


Sceptics expected that a deep-water dive would debunk the slew of extra-terrestrial theories surrounding an unidentified object sitting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

But the Swedish expedition team that took the plunge surfaced with more questions than answers - and certainly no solution to its origins.

The divers found that the object, which some have likened to the Millennium Falcon because of its unusual round outline, was raised about 10 to 13ft above the seabed and curved in at the sides, giving it a mushroom shape.

They added that the object has 'rounded sides and rugged edges'

'First we thought this was only stone, but this is something else,' diver Peter Lindberg said in a press release.

At the center of the object, which has a 60-meter diameter, has an 'egg shaped hole leading into it from the top'.
June 17 2012

Study Sheds New Light on Common Ancestor of All Jawed Vertebrates


The new study, published in Nature, sheds light on the evolution of the earliest jawed vertebrates and offers a new glimpse of the last common ancestor before the split between the earliest sharks and the first bony fishes – the lineage that would eventually include human beings.

“Unexpectedly, Acanthodes turns out to be the best view we have of conditions in the last common ancestor of bony fishes and sharks,” said senior author Michael Coates, a professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago. “Our work is telling us that the earliest bony fishes looked pretty much like sharks, and not vice versa. What we might think of as shark space is, in fact, general modern jawed vertebrate space.
June 17 2012

Cougars Reverse 100-Year Decline


The research, published in the Journal of Wildlife Management, raises new conservation questions, such as how humans can live alongside the returning predators.

“The cougar population declined dramatically from 1900, due to both hunting, and a lack of prey, leaving the remaining population isolated to the American west,” said lead author Dr Michelle LaRue of the University of Minnesota. “Here we present the hard evidence that the western population has spread, with cougar populations re-establishing across the Midwest.