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Source: http://zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20130628/HSSPORTS01/306280037/1002/rss01
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Sunday, June 30, 2013
Tiny nanocubes help scientists tell left from right
June 28, 2013 ? In chemical reactions, left and right can make a big difference. A "left-handed" molecule of a particular chemical composition could be an effective drug, while its mirror-image "right-handed" counterpart could be completely inactive. That's because, in biology, "left" and "right" molecular designs are crucial: Living organisms are made only from left-handed amino acids. So telling the two apart is important-but difficult.
Now, a team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Ohio University has developed a new, simpler way to discern molecular handedness, known as chirality. They used gold-and-silver cubic nanoparticles to amplify the difference in left- and right-handed molecules' response to a particular kind of light. The study, described in the journal Nano Letters, provides the basis for a new way to probe the effects of handedness in molecular interactions with unprecedented sensitivity.
"Our discovery and methods based on this research could be extremely useful for the characterization of biomolecular interactions with drugs, probing protein folding, and in other applications where stereometric properties are important," said Oleg Gang, a researcher at Brookhaven's Center for Functional Nanomaterials and lead author on the paper. "We could use this same approach to monitor conformational changes in biomolecules under varying environmental conditions, such as temperature-and also to fabricate nano-objects that exhibit a chiral response to light, which could then be used as new kinds of nanoscale sensors."
The scientists knew that left- and right-handed chiral molecules would interact differently with "circularly polarized" light-where the direction of the electrical field rotates around the axis of the beam. This idea is similar to the way polarized sunglasses filter out reflected glare unlike ordinary lenses.
Other scientists have detected this difference, called "circular dichroism," in organic molecules' spectroscopic "fingerprints"-detailed maps of the wavelengths of light absorbed or reflected by the sample. But for most chiral biomolecules and many organic molecules, this "CD" signal is in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the signal is often weak. The tests thus require significant amounts of material at impractically high concentrations.
The team was encouraged they might find a way to enhance the signal by recent experiments showing that coupling certain molecules with metallic nanoparticles could greatly increase their response to light (see: http://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=11157). Theoretical work even suggested that these so-called plasmonic particles-which induce a collective oscillation of the material's conductive electrons, leading to stronger absorption of a particular wavelength-could bump the signal into the visible light portion of the spectroscopic fingerprint, where it would be easier to measure.
The group experimented with different shapes and compositions of nanoparticles, and found that cubes with a gold center surrounded by a silver shell are not only able to show a chiral optical signal in the near-visible range, but even more striking, were effective signal amplifiers. For their test biomolecule, they used synthetic strands of DNA-a molecule they were familiar with using as "glue" for sticking nanoparticles together.
When DNA was attached to the silver-coated nanocubes, the signal was approximately 100 times stronger than it was for free DNA in the solution. That is, the cubic nanoparticles allowed the scientists to detect the optical signal from the chiral molecules (making them "visible") at 100 times lower concentrations.
"This is a very large optical amplification relative to what was previously observed," said Fang Lu, the first author on the paper.
The observed amplification of the circular dichroism signal is a consequence of the interaction between the plasmonic particles and the "exciton," or energy absorbing, electrons within the DNA-nanocube complex, the scientists explained.
"This research could serve as a promising platform for ultrasensitive sensing of chiral molecules and their transformations in synthetic, biomedical, and pharmaceutical applications," Lu said.
"In addition," said Gang, "our approach offers a way to fabricate, via self-assembly, discrete plasmonic nano-objects with a chiral optical response from structurally non-chiral nano-components. These chiral plasmonic objects could greatly enhance the design of metamaterials and nano-optics for applications in energy harvesting and optical telecommunications."
This research was conducted at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials and funded by the DOE Office of Science and by the National Science Foundation.
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Friday, June 28, 2013
DNA found outside genes plays largely unknown, potentially vital roles: Thousands of previously unknown RNA molecules identified
June 26, 2013 ? A new UC San Francisco study highlights the potential importance of the vast majority of human DNA that lies outside of genes within the cell.
The researchers found that about 85 percent of these stretches of DNA make RNA, a molecule that increasingly is being found to play important roles within cells. They also determined that this RNA-making DNA is more likely than other non-gene DNA regions to be associated with inherited disease risks.
The study, published in the free online journal PLOS Genetics on June 20, 2013, is one of the most extensive examinations of the human genome ever undertaken to see which stretches of DNA outside of genes make RNA and which do not.
The researchers -- senior author and RNA expert Michael McManus, PhD, UCSF associate professor of microbiology and immunology and a member of the UCSF Diabetes Center, graduate student Ian Vaughn, and postdoctoral fellow Matthew Hangauer, PhD -- identified thousands of previously unknown, unique RNA sequences.
"Now that we realize that all these RNA molecules exist and have identified them, the struggle is to understand which are going to have a function that is important," McManus said. "It may take decades to determine this."
The RNA most familiar from textbooks is the messenger RNA that is transcribed from DNA in genes and that encodes the amino acid building blocks of proteins. The transcription of messenger RNA from DNA is a key step in protein production. The rest of the DNA on the cell's chromosomes was once thought not to be transcribed into RNA, and was referred to as junk DNA.
Today, scientists estimate that only 1.5 percent of the genome consists of genes, McManus said. But over the last two decades other kinds of RNA have been identified that are transcribed from DNA outside of gene regions. Some of these RNA molecules play important biological roles, but scientists debate whether few or most of these RNA molecules are likely to be biologically significant.
Among the RNA transcribed by the DNA outside of genes, the UCSF researchers identified thousands of previously unknown RNA sequences of a type called lincRNA. So far, only a handful of lincRNA molecules are known to play significant roles in human biology, McManus said.
Previous research has shown that lincRNAs can have diverse functions. Some control the activity of genes that encode proteins. Others guide protein production in alternative ways.
"RNA is the Swiss army knife of molecules -- it can have so many different functions," McManus said.
The development of RNA-sequencing techniques in recent years has made possible the collection of massive amounts of RNA data for the first time.
To identify unique RNA molecules that are transcribed from human DNA, the UCSF researchers re-examined data on RNA transcription that they gathered from more than 125 data sets, obtained in recent years by scientists who studied 24 types of human body tissues. The new study represents one of the largest collections of lincRNAs gathered to date.
McManus said that the findings are in general agreement with those reported in September 2012 by researchers associated with a project called ENCODE, which included among its goals the detection of RNA transcripts within the genome. Many of the cells examined in ENCODE were long-lived laboratory cell lines and cancer cell lines, whereas the data analyzed in the UCSF study was from normal healthy human tissue, McManus said.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/A43ZMzjXaYE/130626143122.htm
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This Gorgeous Warbird Is More Phoenix Than Mustang
The P-51 Mustang is one of the most iconic aircraft in aviation history. These long-range, single-seater fighter-bombers served throughout the Second World War as well as during in Korea before being relegated to scrap yards. But many have survived, some in the most unlikely of places. You'll never guess what quiet suburb the Lil' Margaret was found in.
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Court: Hobby Lobby can challenge health care law
Customers are seen at a Hobby Lobby store in Denver on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. A challenge to the federal health care law faces its most prominent test yet in a full 10th Circuit hearing in Denver on Thursday. Hobby Lobby stores is challenging a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morining-after birth control pill. The Oklahoma based arts and crafts chain says the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Customers are seen at a Hobby Lobby store in Denver on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. A challenge to the federal health care law faces its most prominent test yet in a full 10th Circuit hearing in Denver on Thursday. Hobby Lobby stores is challenging a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morining-after birth control pill. The Oklahoma based arts and crafts chain says the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
DENVER (AP) ? An appeals court said Thursday that Hobby Lobby and a sister company that sells Christian books and supplies can fight the nation's new health care law on religious grounds, ruling the portion of the law that requires them to offer certain kinds of birth control to their employees is particularly onerous, and suggesting the companies shouldn't have to pay millions of dollars in fines while their claims are considered.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver said the Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts chain, along with Mardel bookstores, not only can proceed with their lawsuit seeking to overturn a portion of the Affordable Care Act, but can probably win.
The judges unanimously sent the case back to a lower court in Oklahoma, which had rejected the companies' request for an injunction to prevent full enforcement of the new law.
"Hobby Lobby and Mardel have drawn a line at providing coverage for drugs or devices they consider to induce abortions, and it is not for us to question whether the line is reasonable," the judges wrote. "The question here is not whether the reasonable observer would consider the plaintiffs complicit in an immoral act, but rather how the plaintiffs themselves measure their degree of complicity."
Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., Mardel Inc. and their owners, the Green family, argue for-profit businesses ? not just religious groups ? should be allowed to seek an exception if the law violates their religious beliefs. The owners approve of most forms of artificial birth control, but not those that prevent implantation of a fertilized egg ? such as an IUD or the morning-after pill.
Hobby Lobby is the largest and best-known of more than 30 businesses in several states that have challenged the contraception mandate. A number of Catholic-affiliated institutions have filed separate lawsuits, and the court suggested faith-based organizations can follow for-profit objectives in the secular world.
"A religious individual may enter the for-profit realm intending to demonstrate to the marketplace that a corporation can succeed financially while adhering to religious values. As a court, we do not see how we can distinguish this form of evangelism from any other," they wrote.
A majority of judges couldn't decide whether the Oklahoma court had sufficiently addressed two parts of Hobby Lobby's initial complaint and sent them back for further review at the local level.
Throughout a ruling that covered more than 160 pages, the judges noted Hobby Lobby faced a difficult choice ? violate its religious beliefs, pay $475 million in fines for failing to comply with the law (a $100 fine per day for each of its 13,000 workers), or pay $26 million to the government if it dropped its health care plan altogether.
Hobby Lobby and Mardel won expedited federal review because the stores would have faced fines starting Monday for not covering the required forms of contraception. The 10th Circuit judges said the Oklahoma court was wrong to not grant the companies an injunction in the face of serious financial penalties.
Hobby Lobby and other companies challenging the contraception mandate say the morning-after pill is tantamount to abortion because it can prevent a fertilized egg from becoming implanted in a woman's womb. The 10th Circuit heard the case before eight active judges instead of the typical three-judge panel, indicating the case's importance.
The U.S. Department of Justice argued that allowing for-profit corporations to exempt themselves from requirements that violate their religious beliefs would be in effect allowing the business to impose its religious beliefs on employees. In its ruling, the 10th Circuit cited a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court conclusion that for-profit corporations have rights to political expression.
"We see no reason the Supreme Court would recognize constitutional protection for a corporation's political expression but not its religious expression," the judges wrote.
One judge went even further in a concurring opinion.
"No one suggests that organizations, in contrast to their members, have souls," Judge Harris Hartz wrote. "But it does not follow that people must sacrifice their souls to engage in group activities through an organization."
Hobby Lobby calls itself a "biblically founded business" and is closed on Sundays. Founded in 1972, the company now operates more than 500 stores in 41 states and employs more than 13,000 full-time employees who are eligible for health insurance.
Emily Hardman, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Hobby Lobby, called the ruling a "resounding victory for religious freedom."
But Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the judges were wrong.
"This isn't religious freedom; it's the worst kind of religious oppression," executive director Barry Lynn said in a statement.
___
Kristen Wyatt is on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt
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Scientists Sequence the Oldest Ever Genome--of a 700,000-Year-Old Horse
Scientists have managed to sequence the genome of a 700,000-year-old horse?in the process generating the oldest complete DNA sequence yet.
A team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, worked with a horse bone found in the permafrost of north-west Canada all the way back in 2003 to achieve the result. Previously, the oldest complete genome came from 110,000-year-old polar bear remains.
Sequencing the genome of the 700,000-year-old horse was no simple task. Over that length of time, the DNA had degraded to such an extent that little was left to go on?which meant that the team had to develop new techniques especially. In particular, they used weighty computational techniques to rebuild the genome from many tiny scraps of data, some just 25 letters long. They also had to use clever software tricks to sift out DNA from microbes that had infested the fossil.
The eventual result was a genome?published today in Nature?that the team could compare with others. By considering Przewalski's horse (pictured above, a wild species found in Mongolia), donkeys, and other domestic breeds, the researchers have estimated that the last common ancestor across the entire Equine species lived between 4 and 4.5 million years ago?before the last ice age. That's about twice as long ago as experts previously thought.
Perhaps more interesting than the horse result, though, is the promise that it holds for other research. Being able to sequence a 700,000-year-old horse genome means we could do the same?perhaps even better?with human remains. Sure, there's a limit to how old DNA can be before it's completely unintelligible
Image by Traveller_40 under Creative Commons license
Source: http://gizmodo.com/scientists-sequence-the-oldest-ever-genome-of-a-700-00-595905519
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Cloning mice: For the first time, a donor mouse has been cloned using a drop of peripheral blood from its tail
June 26, 2013 ? From obesity to substance abuse, from anxiety to cancer, genetically modified mice are used extensively in research as models of human disease. Researchers often spend years developing a strain of mouse with the exact genetic mutations necessary to model a particular human disorder. But what if that mouse, due to the mutations themselves or a simple twist of fate, was infertile?
Currently, two methods exist for perpetuating a valuable strain of mouse. If at least one of the remaining mice is male and possesses healthy germ cells, the best option is intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), an in vitro fertilization procedure in which a single sperm is injected directly into an egg.
However, if the remaining mice cannot produce healthy germ cells, or if they are female, researchers must turn to cloning. Somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) produces cloned animals by replacing an oocyte's nucleus with that of an adult somatic cell. An early version of this process was used to produce Dolly the sheep in 1996.
Since then, SCNT techniques have continued to advance. Earlier this year, researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, even devised a technique to avoid the diminishing returns of recloning the same cell; success rates increased from the standard three percent in first-generation clones to ten percent in first-generation and 14 percent in higher-generation clones.
The type of somatic cell used for this process is critical and depends largely on its efficiency in producing live clones, as well as its ease of access and readiness for experimental use. While cumulus cells, which surround oocytes in the ovarian follicle and after ovulation, are currently the preferred cell type, Drs. Satoshi Kamimura, Atsuo Ogura, and colleagues at the RIKEN BioResource Center in Tsukuba, Japan, questioned whether white blood cells (a.k.a., leukocytes) collected from an easily accessed site, such as a tail, would be effective donor cells. Such cells would allow for repeated sampling with minimal risk to the donor mouse.
There are five different types of white blood cells and, as expected, the researchers found that lymphocytes were the type that performed the most poorly: only 1.7 percent of embryos developed into offspring. The physically largest white blood cells, and thus the easiest to filter from the blood sample, were granulocytes and monocytes. The nuclei of these cells performed better, with 2.1 percent of the embryos surviving to term, compared to 2.7 percent for the preferred cell type, cumulus cells.
The granulocytes' performance was poorer than expected due to a much higher rate of fragmentation in early embryos (22.6 percent): twofold higher than that of lymphocyte cloning and fivefold higher than cumulus cell cloning. The researchers were unable to determine what could be causing the fragmentation and intend to perform further studies to improve the performance of granulocyte donor cells.
Although the blood cells tested did not surpass the success rate of cumulus cells in this study, the researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, that mice can be cloned using the nuclei of peripheral blood cells. These cells may be used for cloning immediately after collection with minimal risk to the donor, helping to generate genetic copies of mouse strains that cannot be preserved by other assisted reproduction techniques.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/GDH_lb66SVk/130626153920.htm
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Past brain activation revealed in scans: Brain activity patterns preserve traces of previous cognitive activity
June 25, 2013 ? What if experts could dig into the brain, like archaeologists, and uncover the history of past experiences? This ability might reveal what makes each of us a unique individual, and it could enable the objective diagnosis of a wide range of neuropsychological diseases. New research at the Weizmann Institute hints that such a scenario is within the realm of possibility: It shows that spontaneous waves of neuronal activity in the brain bear the imprints of earlier events for at least 24 hours after the experience has taken place.
The new research stems from earlier findings in the lab of Prof. Rafi Malach of the Institute's Neurobiology Department and others that the brain never rests, even when its owner is resting. When a person is resting with closed eyes -- that is, no visual stimulus is entering the brain -- the normal bursts of nerve cell activity associated with incoming information are replaced by ultra-slow patterns of neuronal activity. Such spontaneous or "resting" waves travel in a highly organized and reproducible manner through the brain's outer layer -- the cortex -- and the patterns they create are complex, yet periodic and symmetrical.
Like hieroglyphics, it seemed that these patterns might have some meaning, and research student Tal Harmelech, under the guidance of Malach and Dr. Son Preminger, set out to uncover their significance. Their idea was that the patterns of resting brain waves may constitute "archives" for earlier experiences. As we add new experiences, the activation of our brain's networks lead to long-term changes in the links between brain cells, a facility referred to as plasticity. As our experiences become embedded in these connections, they create "expectations" that come into play before we perform any type of mental task, enabling us to anticipate the result. The researchers hypothesized that information about earlier experiences would thus be incorporated into the links between networks of nerve cells in the cortex, and these would show up in the brain's spontaneously emerging wave patterns.
In the experiment, the researchers had volunteers undertake a training exercise that would strongly activate a well-defined network of nerve cells in the frontal lobes. While undergoing scans of their brain activity in the Institute's functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner, the subjects were asked to imagine a situation in which they had to make rapid decisions. The subjects received auditory feedback in real time, based on the information obtained directly from their frontal lobe, which indicated the level of neuronal activity in the trained network. This "neurofeedback" strategy proved highly successful in activating the frontal network -- a part of the brain that is notoriously difficult to activate under controlled conditions.
To test whether the connections created in the brain during this exercise would leave their traces in the patterns formed by the resting brain waves, the researchers performed fMRI scans on the resting subjects before the exercise, immediately afterward, and 24 hours later. Their findings, which appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience, showed that the activation of the specific areas in the cortex did indeed remodel the resting brain wave patterns. Surprisingly, the new patterns not only remained the next day, they were significantly strengthened. These observations fit in with the classic learning principles proposed by Donald Hebb in the mid-20th century, in which the co-activation of two linked nerve cells leads to long term strengthening of their link, while activity that is not coordinated weakens this link. The fMRI images of the resting brain waves showed that brain areas that were activated together during the training sessions exhibited an increase in their functional link a day after the training, while those areas that were deactivated by the training showed a weakened functional connectivity.
This research suggests a number of future possibilities for exploring the brain. For example, spontaneously emerging brain patterns could be used as a "mapping tool" for unearthing cognitive events from an individual's recent past. Or, on a wider scale, each person's unique spontaneously emerging activity patterns might eventually reveal a sort of personal profile -- highlighting each individual's abilities, shortcomings, biases, learning skills, etc. "Today, we are discovering more and more of the common principles of brain activity, but we have not been able to account for the differences between individuals," says Malach. "In the future, spontaneous brain patterns could be the key to obtaining unbiased individual profiles." Such profiles could be especially useful in diagnosing or learning the brain pathologies associated with a wide array of cognitive disabilities.
Prof. Rafi Malach's research is supported by the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurosciences; the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases; the Carl and Micaela Einhorn-Dominic Brain Research Institute; the Norman and Helen Asher Center for Human Brain Imaging; the Murray H. and Meyer Grodetsky Center for Research of Higher Brain Functions; the Kahn Family Research Center for Systems Biology of the Human Cell; the Friends of Dr. Lou Siminovitch; the Adelis Foundation; and the Mike and Valeria Rosenbloom through the Mike Rosenbloom Foundation. Prof. Malach is the recipient of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Award for Innovative Investigation; and he is the incumbent of the Barbara and Morris L. Levinson Professorial Chair in Brain Research.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/ACKTq5RWxG8/130625121153.htm
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
3 Habitable-Zone Super-Earths Found Orbiting Nearby Star
Yeah, but 11 years ago getting from NY to London in less than 4 hours was an everyday thing (if pricier than other flights). Now it's unheard of.
Yes but it was sort of like the pony express shutting down their rush service because the telegraph arrived, maybe that sucks if you wanted to send a package but for the 95% that wanted to send a letter the telegraph was faster and better. Not every aspect of every old service is going to be preserved by the new ones, there will always be some regressions in the overall picture. Even though we're making incremental improvements I doubt we'll see any revolutionary changes in things like jet propulsion, internal combustion, gas turbines and whatnot - it's just minor tweaks to squeeze more efficiency out of it.
The overwhelming number of changes I expect is for things to get smaller, smarter and for more and more things to go electronically rather than physically and applying brute force. Maybe you get another 5 mph on the interstate but the main difference is an AI that drives itself. My dream of "real technological development" would be things like having nanobots to destroy bacteria, viruses, toxins, cancer cells, cure genetic diseases and prevent aging on the cell level. In the future maybe we all have personal assistants like only the rich have today, only they're robotic. It couldn't be done today because to have servants somebody would have to be the servants, but we could all have a robot the way we all have cell phones.
I'm not going to bash the system we have today, I can go down to the grocery store and buy a finished meal, pop it in the microwave and put the dishes in the dishwasher but it certainly could be taken to the next level where I just tell a robot I'd like spaghetti bolognese today and it'd shop, cook like a professional chef, serve and clear the tables when I'm done. Having a washing machine and a dryer is also rather relaxed, but again being able to throw dirty clothes in the bin and have them sorted, washed, dried, ironed if applicable and put back in the closest by themselves would be even better. Roombas and electronic lawn mowers are just a shadow of what robot housekeepers and gardeners could be. In short, even if I don't see flying cars on the horizon I see plenty things that could make life in 2013 seem rather primitive compared to 100 years from now.
Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/tUER4nHQy2g/story01.htm
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Samsung denies giving up on desktop PC tower business
Yesterday, The Korea Times reported that Samsung was to close its "unprofitable" desktop PC business as "demand for conventional desktop PCs is going down," according to an unnamed spokesperson. The weirdly written article also quoted another Samsung official saying "tablets, all-in-one and hybrid PCs are Samsung's current focus," thus suggesting the company seemed to be singling out desktop PC towers or boxes.
Even though it's been a while since some of us last saw a Samsung desktop PC tower (the latest models we covered date back to 2006, though there have been more recent efforts), something didn't smell right here so we reached out to Samsung directly. The response we got was that this rumor is all "groundless," and the company also specifically said it'll keep an open mind about its PC tower business. Here's the full statement:
"The rumor that Samsung is withdrawing from the PC desktop business is groundless. Samsung will continue to offer diverse products according to market needs, including our recently announced ATIV One 5 Style, a stylish all-in-one PC. We will continue to open all possibilities in PC business including our PC Tower business, to satisfy consumer's diverse lifestyle and needs."
So in a nutshell: nothing to see here, move along. And technically speaking, the Chromebox kinda counts too, right?
Update: Samsung just informed us that it actually launched a couple of desktop PC towers, the 700T3A and 300T3A, in January this year, but only for the Korean B2C market. We got them pictured after the break.
Filed under: Desktops
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Can An Old Massachusetts Fishing Port Light The World Again?
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Obama aims to tackle pollution, climate change
President Barack Obama wipes his face as he speaks about climate change, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at Georgetown University in Washington. The president is proposing sweeping steps to limit heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants and to boost renewable energy production on federal property, resorting to his executive powers to tackle climate change and sidestepping the partisan gridlock in Congress. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama wipes his face as he speaks about climate change, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at Georgetown University in Washington. The president is proposing sweeping steps to limit heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants and to boost renewable energy production on federal property, resorting to his executive powers to tackle climate change and sidestepping the partisan gridlock in Congress. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama speaks about climate change, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at Georgetown University in Washington. The president is proposing sweeping steps to limit heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants and to boost renewable energy production on federal property, resorting to his executive powers to tackle climate change and sidestepping the partisan gridlock in Congress. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama declared the debate over climate change and its causes obsolete Tuesday as he announced a wide-ranging plan to tackle pollution and prepare communities for global warming.
In a major speech at Georgetown University, Obama warned Americans of the deep and disastrous effects of climate change, urging them to take action before it's too late.
"As a president, as a father and as an American, I'm here to say we need to act," Obama said.
Obama announced he was directing his administration to launch the first-ever federal regulations on heat-trapping gases emitted by new and existing power plants ? "to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution."
Other aspects of the plan will boost renewable energy production on federal lands, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures.
Even before Obama unveiled his plan Tuesday, Republican critics in Congress were lambasting it as a job-killer that would threaten the economic recovery. Obama dismissed those critics, noting the same arguments have been used in the past when the U.S. has taken other steps to protect the environment.
"That's what they said every time," Obama said. "And every time, they've been wrong."
Obama also offered a rare insight into his administration's deliberations on Keystone XL, an oil pipeline whose potential approval has sparked an intense fight between environmental activists and energy producers.
The White House has insisted the State Department is making the decision independently, but Obama said Tuesday he's instructing the department to approve it only if the project won't increase overall, net emissions of greenhouse gases.
"Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation's interests," Obama said. "Our national interest would be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution."
A top aide to House Speaker John Boehner said the remarks indicated that the pipeline should be approved.
"The standard the president set today should lead to speedy approval of the Keystone pipeline," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said.
Still, environmentalist took heart in Obama's remarks, noting it was the first time the administration had directly linked approval of the pipeline to its effect on pollution. The White House has previously resisted efforts by environmental groups to link the Keystone project to broader effort curb carbon pollution from power plants.
Obama touted America's strengths ? research, technology and innovation ? as factors that make the U.S. uniquely poised to take on the challenges of global warming. He mocked those who deny that humans are contributing to the warming of the planet, adding that he "doesn't have much patience" for anybody who refuses to acknowledge the problem.
"We don't have time for a meeting of the flat-earth society," Obama said.
Obama's far-reaching plan marks the president's most prominent effort yet to deliver on a major priority he laid out in his first presidential campaign and recommitted to at the start of his second term: to fight climate change in the U.S. and abroad and prepare American communities for its effects. Environmental activists have been irked that Obama's high-minded goals never materialized into a comprehensive plan.
By expanding permitting on public lands, Obama hopes to generate enough electricity from renewable energy projects such as wind and solar to power the equivalent of 6 million homes by 2020, effectively doubling the electric capacity federal lands now produce. He also set a goal to install 100 megawatts of energy-producing capacity at federal housing projects by the end of the decade.
Obama also announced $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to spur investment in technologies that can keep carbon dioxide produced by power plants from being released into the atmosphere.
But the linchpin of Obama's plan is the controls on new and existing power plants. Forty percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and one-third of greenhouse gases overall, come from electric power plants, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The Obama administration already has proposed controls on new plants, but those controls have been delayed and not yet finalized.
Tuesday's announcement came just weeks after Obama's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy, assured senators during her confirmation process that the EPA was "not currently" developing any regulations on existing sources of greenhouse gases. McCarthy said if EPA were to look at such regulations, it would allow states, the public and others to "offer meaningful input on potential approaches."
Republicans quickly dismissed Obama's plan, calling it a "war on coal" and a "war on jobs," reflecting the opposition to climate legislation on Capitol Hill that prompted a frustrated Obama to sidestep lawmakers and take action himself.
"It's tantamount to kicking the ladder out from beneath the feet of many Americans struggling in today's economy," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the floor of the Senate.
Environmental groups offered a mix of praise and wariness that Obama would follow through on the ambitious goals he laid out. Bill Snape of the Center for Biological Diversity described it as too little, too late.
"What he's proposing isn't big enough, doesn't move fast enough, to match the terrifying magnitude of the climate crisis," Snape said.
Others hailed the plan, galvanized by the fact that Obama was taking action on his own after Congress' reluctance to tackle the issue using legislation.
"The president nailed it: this can't wait," said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We will cut this carbon pollution today so our children don't inherit climate chaos tomorrow."
___
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Singapore, Malaysia face economic hit from prolonged smog
By John O'Callaghan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore and Malaysia could face a bigger economic impact than from their worst air pollution crisis 16 years ago if slash-and-burn fires in Indonesia continue to rage in the coming weeks, turning off tourists and raising business costs.
Restaurants, tourist attractions and some other businesses are already feeling the pain as haze envelopes the Southeast Asian neighbors, from Singapore's upscale shopping districts to Malaysia's popular beach resorts.
The haze crisis in 1997 lasted about three months and cost Southeast Asia an estimated $9 billion from disruptions to air travel, health expenses and other business impacts. Economists and businesses say the costs are already mounting about a week since air pollution levels in the countries shot up to unhealthy and sometimes hazardous levels.
"The haze has definitely affected our business. Our sales fell around 40 percent in the past week," said Goo Wai Chien, who sells pizza and pasta at a hawker center in Singapore's business district. "But hopefully the situation is improving."
Much depends on how long the haze lasts and which way the wind blows the smoke that is coming mostly from fires set on palm oil plantations on Indonesia's Sumatra island. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said the haze, which eased over the weekend and on Monday in the city state, could last a few weeks or until the dry season ends in Sumatra in September or October.
Extinguishing the fires, which smolder deep within peat, depends almost entirely on levels of rainfall.
Irvin Seah, DBS economist in Singapore, said the overall impact could be worse than in 1997 if the haze drags on.
"In 1997, the level of pollution was not this severe, and on the other hand the tourism industry's contribution to the economy was relatively smaller back then."
Tourism makes up 6.4 percent of Malaysia's economy and about 5 to 6 percent of Singapore's. Analysts see that sector taking an immediate knock, even if they cannot quantify the damage.
"The impact will be negative," ANZ, a bank, said in a research report, referring to Singapore. "Shopping, restaurants, bars and outdoor entertainment will all suffer during this hazy period."
Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses also benefit from Singapore's prominence as a center for industry meetings and trade shows.
TOURISM, HEALTH FEARS
Perceptions of Singapore, which usually enjoys clear skies and relatively little pollution, could be the biggest casualty if the smoke hangs over the island through September.
A conference this week on global nuclear issues with dozens of high-profile experts, including former U.S. secretary of state George Shultz and former secretary of defense William Perry, was postponed "due to increasingly hazardous weather conditions in Singapore", the organizers said.
"It would create a very negative impression and also deter tourist inflows. It would deter people thinking about moving to work in Singapore," said P.K. Basu, regional head of research and economics at Maybank Kim Eng.
Brokerage CLSA has estimated the damage to Singapore - a major financial center, aviation hub and tourism destination - could end up being hundreds of millions of dollars. Other analysts said it could top $1 billion.
Singapore and its $271 billion economy cannot afford a big hit from a prolonged pollution crisis or any loss of confidence.
The economy - which is dominated by services, followed by manufacturing and construction - was stronger than expected in the first quarter due to a surge in the financial sector.
But exports have been weak, especially electronics, and economists now expect growth of 2.3 percent this year, slower than the median estimate of 2.8 percent in March, according to the central bank's latest quarterly survey released this month.
Francis Tan, an economist at United Overseas Bank, said if the smog in Singapore extends until September, with pollution rising to unhealthy levels from time to time, it could shave 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points off his 2013 growth forecast of 3 percent. That would mean up to $1.2 billion in economic losses.
Among the biggest costs that businesses face from the haze is illness.
Hospitals and clinics in areas badly affected by haze in recent days had recorded a rise of more than 100 percent in asthma cases, Malaysia's director-general of health Noor Hisham Abdullah was quoted as saying by the Bernama state news agency.
Patients reporting other respiratory problems and conjunctivitis had also jumped, he said.
The Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, was veiled in thick smog on Monday, a day after parts of the southern state of Johor declared an emergency as pollution readings rose above the hazardous level.
Cheah Tuck Wing, the executive director of the Malaysia-Australia Business Council, said companies in Johor - which has attracted growing investment from neighboring Singapore - were already seeing a rise in worker sickness.
"People are not well and it will definitely affect production, that goes without saying. It has definitely impacted business, especially factories where a huge number of people are working."
(Additional reporting by Anshuman Daga, Eveline Danubrata and Kevin Lim in SINGAPORE; Anuradha Raghu, Megha Rajagopalan, and Siva Sithraputhran in KUALA LUMPUR; editing by Stuart Grudgings and Nick Macfie)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/singapore-malaysia-face-economic-hit-prolonged-smog-093307319.html
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Draper's dark descent in 'Mad Men' finale draws 2.7 million viewers
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The sixth season finale of the Emmy-winning drama "Mad Men" was watched by 2.7 million viewers, matching last season's record high, as the AMC period-advertising series wrapped up a season of change for lead ad man Don Draper.
U.S. cable channel AMC said on Monday that the finale to the 13-episode season was the network's highest rated, citing a 5 percent growth in its share of television viewers this year.
While the overall viewership was stable, there was a drop in viewers within the 25-54 age demographic coveted by advertisers, with 1.3 million viewers, down from 2012's 1.4 million viewers.
Enigmatic advertising executive Draper, played by Jon Hamm, faced his biggest challenges this season as he grappled with late 1960s cultural changes, as well as drifting apart from his wife as he engaged in a steamy affair with a married neighbor.
In the finale, Draper finds himself unraveling at the seams as he tries to counter his excessive drinking, a suspension from his firm by his partners and efforts to come to terms with his own identity.
The episode ends with Draper taking his three children to the brothel where he grew up.
"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner said in recent interviews that season seven, scheduled to air in 2014, will be the final one of the series.
The drama is a strong player during Hollywood's awards season, often taking top television honors for its cast and creators at both the Emmys and Golden Globes.
"Mad Men" is produced by Lionsgate Television, a division of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. AMC cable channel is a unit of AMC Networks Inc..
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Leslie Adler)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/drapers-dark-descent-mad-men-finale-draws-2-000017121.html
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NSA Surveillance Scandal: Snowden On the Run, Asks Ecuador for Asylum
Edward Snowden is reportedly seeking political asylum in Ecuador after arriving to Moscow today. Meanwhile, the US has revoked his passport. The former NSA contractor has been on the run since he first revealed details of Verizon's participation in a telecommunications industry program to store information on all telephone calls, and then broke news of the NSA/Silicon Valley PRISM system that watches over the whole Interent. Developing...
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Genetic survey sheds light on Oceans' lean, mean microbial machines: UBC research
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Public release date: 24-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Steven Hallam
shallam@mail.ubc.ca
604-827-3420
University of British Columbia
Planktonic bacteria inhabiting the world's oceans have streamlined their genetic makeup to become lean, mean survival machines, according to new research by an international team of researchers, including microbiologists at the University of British Columbia.
The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first direct evidence of widespread genome reduction--organisms evolving to cast off superfluous genes and traits in favor of simpler, specialized genetic make-ups optimized for rapid growth.
"Microbes are the dominant form of life on the planet and comprise a huge proportion of the oceans' biomass, but we know next to nothing about how populations exist, evolve and interact outside of the lab," says UBC microbiologist Steven Hallam, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Genomics and author on the paper.
"This widespread, signal cell genome sequencing of marine bacteria in the surface ocean has uncovered a surprising amount of metabolic specialization. This tendency toward genome reduction has profound implications for how microbial communities develop metabolic interactions that couple nutrient and energy flow patterns in the ocean. It could be a matter of survival of the most connected."
Says Ramunas Stepanauskas, director of the Bigelow Single Cell Genomics Centre and the paper's lead author: "We found that natural bacterioplankton are devoid of 'genomic pork' such as gene duplications and noncoding nucleotides, and utilize more diverse energy sources than previously thought."
Samples of planktonic bacteria were targeted from the Gulf of Maine, the Mediterranean, the South Atlantic and other sites. Data from northeast subarctic Pacific samples--taken over a six year period from the waters between Saanich Inlet and Ocean Station Papa along the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Line P transect was provided by Hallam's team.
###
Almost 20 researchers from Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia took part in the study, led by researchers at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences on the Gulf of Maine. Hallam's research is supported by the Tula Foundation, and by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
Photo Gallery Available
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ubcscience/sets/72157634234485723/
Water and microbial samples being collected by UBC researchers along Line P, a 1,425 kilometer (885 mile) survey line in the Northeast subarctic Pacific Ocean, originating in the coastal fjord Saanich Inlet, British Columbia and terminating at Ocean Station Papa on the southeast edge of the Alaskan Gyre. For over 50 years, hydrographic data have been collected along Line P, making it one of the longest running time-series in the global ocean. Credits: Jody Wright, Kendra Moss (Hallam Lab, University of British Columbia).
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 24-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Steven Hallam
shallam@mail.ubc.ca
604-827-3420
University of British Columbia
Planktonic bacteria inhabiting the world's oceans have streamlined their genetic makeup to become lean, mean survival machines, according to new research by an international team of researchers, including microbiologists at the University of British Columbia.
The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first direct evidence of widespread genome reduction--organisms evolving to cast off superfluous genes and traits in favor of simpler, specialized genetic make-ups optimized for rapid growth.
"Microbes are the dominant form of life on the planet and comprise a huge proportion of the oceans' biomass, but we know next to nothing about how populations exist, evolve and interact outside of the lab," says UBC microbiologist Steven Hallam, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Genomics and author on the paper.
"This widespread, signal cell genome sequencing of marine bacteria in the surface ocean has uncovered a surprising amount of metabolic specialization. This tendency toward genome reduction has profound implications for how microbial communities develop metabolic interactions that couple nutrient and energy flow patterns in the ocean. It could be a matter of survival of the most connected."
Says Ramunas Stepanauskas, director of the Bigelow Single Cell Genomics Centre and the paper's lead author: "We found that natural bacterioplankton are devoid of 'genomic pork' such as gene duplications and noncoding nucleotides, and utilize more diverse energy sources than previously thought."
Samples of planktonic bacteria were targeted from the Gulf of Maine, the Mediterranean, the South Atlantic and other sites. Data from northeast subarctic Pacific samples--taken over a six year period from the waters between Saanich Inlet and Ocean Station Papa along the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Line P transect was provided by Hallam's team.
###
Almost 20 researchers from Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia took part in the study, led by researchers at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences on the Gulf of Maine. Hallam's research is supported by the Tula Foundation, and by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
Photo Gallery Available
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ubcscience/sets/72157634234485723/
Water and microbial samples being collected by UBC researchers along Line P, a 1,425 kilometer (885 mile) survey line in the Northeast subarctic Pacific Ocean, originating in the coastal fjord Saanich Inlet, British Columbia and terminating at Ocean Station Papa on the southeast edge of the Alaskan Gyre. For over 50 years, hydrographic data have been collected along Line P, making it one of the longest running time-series in the global ocean. Credits: Jody Wright, Kendra Moss (Hallam Lab, University of British Columbia).
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/uobc-gss062413.php
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Funeral plans set for actor James Gandolfini
Funeral plans set for actor James Gandolfini
AP
FILE - This undated publicity photo, released by HBO, shows actor James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano, head of the New Jersey crime family portrayed in HBO's "The Sopranos." HBO and the managers for Gandolfini say the actor died Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Italy. He was 51. (AP Photo/HBO, Barry Wetcher, File)
FILE - This undated publicity photo, released by HBO, shows actor James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano, head of the New Jersey crime family portrayed in HBO's "The Sopranos." HBO and the managers for Gandolfini say the actor died Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Italy. He was 51. (AP Photo/HBO, Barry Wetcher, File)
Michael Kobold, a family friend of actor James Gandolfini, holds a press conference at the Exedra Hotel in Rome, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Kobold told reporters Sunday that the "provisional plan" is to depart Rome on Monday afternoon for the United States, several days earlier than anticipated. He did not specify which U.S. airport. Kobold thanked Italian and U.S. authorities, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, his predecessor Hilary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton for helping with arrangements. Gandolfini, 51, died Wednesday in Rome. Kobold has said an autopsy revealed the cause was a heart attack. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Michael Kobold, a family friend of actor James Gandolfini, holds a press conference at the Exedra Hotel in Rome, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Kobold told reporters Sunday that the "provisional plan" is to depart Rome on Monday afternoon for the United States, several days earlier than anticipated. Kobold thanked Italian and U.S. authorities, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, his predecessor Hilary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton for helping with arrangements. Gandolfini, 51, died Wednesday in Rome. Kobold has said an autopsy revealed the cause was a heart attack. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Concert goers display a photo of actor James Gandolfini during Day 2 of the Firefly Music Festival at The Woodlands on Saturday, June 22, 2013 in Dover, Del. (Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Funeral services for actor James Gandolfini will be Thursday at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City.
An HBO spokeswoman speaking on behalf of the family says the funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m.
The 51-year-old star of "The Sopranos" died Wednesday in Rome. Family spokesman Michael Kobold says Gandolfini died of a heart attack.
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman tells the Star-Ledger of Newark that a Signature Airlines flight carrying Gandolfini's body arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport from Rome Sunday night. The body was taken from the airport around 11:20 p.m. but Coleman did not say where.
The actor had been headed to Sicily to appear at the Taormina Film Festival, which paid tribute to him Saturday.
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Kerry: deeply troubling if Snowden allowed to flee
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry smiles as he asks a reporter to repeat a question during a news conference with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, not pictured, at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India on Monday, June 24, 2013, during Kerry's first visit to India as secretary. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry smiles as he asks a reporter to repeat a question during a news conference with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, not pictured, at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India on Monday, June 24, 2013, during Kerry's first visit to India as secretary. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the prime minister's residence in New Delhi, India on Monday, June 24, 2013, during Kerry's first visit to India as secretary. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
NEW DELHI (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that it would be "deeply troubling" if Russia or Hong Kong had adequate notice about Edward Snowden's plans to flee to a country that will grant him asylum and still allowed him leave.
Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor and a self-admitted leaker of state secrets, fled from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday after the U.S. moved to extradite him to face espionage charges. He was expected to seek political asylum in Ecuador.
He was booked on a flight from Moscow to Cuba on Monday, but he was not seen on the plane. It was unclear where he was or where he was he was trying to go, Kerry said. The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport.
"We don't know, specifically, where he may head, or what his intended destination may be," Kerry said, responding to a question during a news conference in New Delhi where he was discussing bilateral issues between the U.S. and India.
He also was asked about whether the Snowden incident would affect the U.S. relationship with China and Russia.
"It would be deeply troubling, obviously, if they had adequate notice, and notwithstanding that, they make the decision willfully to ignore that and not live by the standards of the law," Kerry said.
"There is a surrender treaty with Hong Kong and if there was adequate notice ? I don't know yet what the communication status was. But if there was, it would be very disappointing if he was willfully allowed to board an airplane ... and there would be, without any question, some effect and impact on the relationship and consequences. With respect to Russia, likewise."
The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.
In the past two years, the U.S. has transferred seven prisoners to Russia that Moscow wanted, he said. "I think reciprocity and the enforcement of the law is pretty important," Kerry said, but he did not identify the law he was referencing.
Kerry also noted the countries involved in the incident.
"I suppose there is no small irony here. I mean, I wonder if Mr. Snowden chose China and Russian assistance in his flight from justice because they're such powerful bastions of Internet freedom, and I wonder if while he was in either of those countries he raised the question of Internet freedom since that seems to be what he champions."
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Space telescope funded by public donations meets $1 million goal
Public donors giving between $10 and $10,000 each have hit a $1 million crowdfunding goal for ARKYD, the pint-size space telescope that can be used by schools and enthusiasts alike.
An ARKYD telescope orbiting Earth is shown in this artist's rendering. A privately owned asteroid-mining firm launched the effort to crowdfund the project.
Planetary Resources/Reuters
EnlargeSpace telescopes are not just for pros anymore.
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The first space observatory paid for in part by public donations has hit its initial $1 million fundraising goal, putting the project on track for launch in 2015.
The telescope, dubbed ARKYD, is a munchkin compared with the venerable Hubble Space Telescope or its successor, the James Web Space Telescope. ARKYD's light-gathering mirror is only about 8 inches across, compared with Hubble's 13-foot mirror or the 21-foot mirror of the James Webb telescope, slated for launch in October 2018.
But ARKYD holds the potential to offer something these others don't ? time on an orbiting observatory for anyone from an elementary-school student to professional scientists whose research goals range from studying asteroids to hunting for planets outside our solar system.
The project is the first step toward Planetary Resources, Inc.'s ultimate aim of mining asteroids. The company intends to incorporate such an instrument into spacecraft that initially would rendezvous with an asteroid passing relatively close to Earth and later reach asteroids farther away.
To that end, Planetary Resources developed ARKYD and its needed support infrastructure, such as a ground station, with money from private investors. But the company was founded by X-Prize Foundation founder and chairman Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson, both of whom champion broader public engagement in science. Hence the crowdfunding and the benefits that come with donating.
The $1 million mark ensures that a bare-bones telescope will get launched and maintained. And it ensures that the company will be able to deliver what they promised to donors. For instance:
- A $10 donation "gets you our eternal gratitude" and "a say in how the telescope is used," according to the company's fundraising page on the website Kickstarter.
- Up that to $25, and you get a "selfie" ? you supply a picture of yourself, they send it to the observatory, and an onboard camera takes a picture of your picture displayed on a small video screen on the telescope's exterior, giving you Earth or space as a backdrop.
- For $450, you get to pick three targets for the telescope and receive the images that result.
- Pony up $5,000, and the school or museum of your choice gets 25 targets, in addition to teaching tools that will help incorporate the observations into its science curriculum.
- For $10,000 (24 people have contributed at this level so far), it's the school support plus extras, including tickets to the launch, among other items.
Now that fundraising has met the company's basic goal, the 10 days remaining in Planetary Resources' drive are devoted to raising more to increase the observatory system's capabilities. A total of $1.3 million would allow the company to build a second ground station to receive data from the craft. This would speed processing and distribution of images. If the company hits the $2 million mark, it will beef up the telescope for planet-hunting purposes.
This holds a special attraction for Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of Planetary Resources' advisory board. The project represents what she terms "a fresh approach" to space science.
It's striving to engage the world with access to an on-orbit observatory, she says. And it's moving in a direction she has been advocating for the field ? smaller and more numerous space observatories.
"I'd like to see a new paradigm for space science, where instead of one big telescope we have a fleet of small telescopes," she adds.
Her students have been working on a prototype for what, in effect, is a telescope in a shoe box. The telescope is designed to hunt for planets around nearby stars. But, she says, it has been hard to get money to launch the prototype, which would piggyback on a rocket carrying a larger, primary payload to orbit.
A small telescope must be incredibly stable to have any hope of detecting an extrasolar planet as it passes in front of its star and dims the starlight briefly. In collaboration with MIT's Draper Laboratory, she says, she, her students, and collaborators have licked that problem.
"By combining forces with Planetary Resources, we may be able to the the job done," she says, referring to orbiting what could be the first of many small space telescopes with this precision-pointing capability.
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