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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

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Jupiter Shines Near the Moon Tonight: How to See It

If your sky is clear tonight (Feb. 10), be sure to check out the southeast sky about an hour or so after sundown for an eye-catching site: Jupiter and the moon shining together. That's not a star, however, but in reality, the biggest planet in our solar system: Jupiter.

Whales Gobble Up Endangered European Eels

Rare European eels are thought to cross the Atlantic Ocean to breed, but not all of them finish the ambitious voyage. "It turns out that eels are hunted and eaten by whales," study researcher Magnus Wahlberg, a biologist at the University of Southern Denmark, said in a statement.

It Took 60,000 Years to Kill Nearly Everything on Earth

It took only 60,000 years to kill more than 90 percent of all life on Earth, according to the most precise study yet of the Permian mass extinction, the greatest die-off in the past 540 million years. But pinning down the duration of the Permian mass extinction will help researchers refine its potential trigger mechanisms, said Seth Burgess, lead study author and a geochemist at MIT. "Having an accurate timeline for the events surrounding the mass extinction and the interval itself is extremely important, because it gives us an idea of how the biosphere responds." The Permian mass extinction marks the end of the Permian geologic period, which ended approximately 252 million years ago.

Live Cells Printed Using 'Rubber Stamp' Method

A new printing method inspired by kids' stamps could be used to create live cells of almost any shape or configuration. The technique, called BlocC printing, could be used to recreate networks of brain cells in a petri dish or complicated immune-system interactions, according to the study detailing the method, which was published today (Feb. 10) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And unlike past cell-printing methods, "the major improvement is that cells printed by BlocC printing are alive — close to 100 percent viability," said study co-author Lidong Qin, a nanomedicine researcher at Houston Methodist Research Institute. "We were sick of using ink-jet printing and started to think of other approaches to prepare a cell pattern," Qin told Live Science in an email.

Galileo's Optical Illusion Explained by Neuroscience

A light-colored object on a dark background appears larger than a dark object on a light background, but until recently, no one knew why. Neurons that respond to light objects may distort the objects more than neurons that respond to dark objects — possibly an advantage for human ancestors who needed to see in low-light conditions such as nighttime on the African savanna. "Every time we think about blur in an image, we usually think about optics," said study leader Dr. Jose-Manuel Alonso, a neuroscientist at the State University of New York's College of Optometry. Galileo believed the lens of the human eye caused this so-called "irradiation illusion." But the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz showed that if the optics of the human eye were to blame, dark objects should be distorted just as much as light ones, which they were not.

Scientists Tout El Niño Forecast, Others Doubt It

A team of scientists now claims it can forecast disruptive El Niño events a year in advance, and that an El Niño has a 3-in-4 chance of happening later this year. El Niño, which means "little boy" or "the baby Jesus" in Spanish, was named by South American fishermen, who noticed that the ocean would heat up around Christmastime. Its counterpart, La Niña (Spanish for "little girl") occurs when equatorial Pacific waters are unusually cold, and it can also influence weather events around the world. Together, El Niño and La Niña are known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO.

Women Who Say Sex Is Important Are Likely to Keep Doing It

The participants reported whether they were sexually active and how important sex was in their lives. At the start of the study, 354 (66.3 percent) of the women reported being sexually active. Four years later, 228 of those women remained sexually active, according to the study published today (Feb. 16) in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. "Popular culture tells us that as women age, they become less interested in sex, and they stop having sex," said study researcher Dr. Holly Thomas, an internal medicine physician at the University of Pittsburgh.

Caution Urged Over Weight-Loss Drugs

People should be cautions about using two new weight-loss drugs because it's not clear whether they increase the risk for heart problems, some doctors argue. In 2012, the Food and Drug Administration approved two weight-loss drugs: lorcaserin hydrochloride (brand name Belviq, manufactured by Eisai Inc.) and phentermine-topiramate (brand name Qsymia, manufactured by Vivus, Inc.). The drugs have raised concerns about heart safety because phentermine is known to increase heart rate, and previous weight-loss drugs were removed from the market because of their association with heart problems, including heart attacks and strokes. "In our view, approving the drugs for marketing without more definitive evidence [of heart safety] is an unnecessary gamble," wrote the editorial authors Dr. Steven Woloshin and Dr. Lisa M. Schwartz, of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, who noted that the drugs have not been approved in Europe, because of concerns over heart risks.

Nazi-Looted Painting Returned to Poland

U.S. authorities have recovered and returned an 18th-century painting looted from Poland's National Museum by Nazi troops during World War II. The painting by German artist Johann Conrad Seekatz was one of thousands of art objects pilfered during the German occupation of Poland, between 1939 and 1945. The Seekatz painting, "Saint Philip Baptizing a Servant of Queen Kandaki," had crisscrossed the globe for decades before it turned up at auction in New York in 2006, misattributed to Dutch painter J.C. Saft, investigators said. Doyle New York Auctioneers and Appraisers sold the artwork for about $24,000 to the Rafael Valls Gallery in London.

NASA Photos Show Possible Water Flows on Mars (Images)

The marks, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL), snake down some crater walls and other inclines when the mercury rises on the Red Planet. New research finds seasonal changes in iron minerals at RSL sites, suggesting that brines containing an iron antifreeze may flow there from time to time — but direct evidence of water remains elusive. "We still don't have a smoking gun for existence of water in RSL, although we're not sure how this process would take place without water," Lujendra Ojha, a graduate student at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, lead author of two recent RSL studies, said in a statement. (Ojha discovered the RSL in 2011, while an undergraduate at the University of Arizona.) [Photos: The Search for Water on Mars]

Scientists find gene linking brain's grey matter to intelligence

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Researchers have found a gene linking intelligence to the thickness of so-called "grey matter" in the brain, and say their discovery could help scientists understand how and why some people have learning difficulties. An international team of scientists analyzed DNA samples and brain scans from more than 1,500 healthy 14-year-olds and gave them a series of tests to establish their verbal and non-verbal intelligence. The researchers looked at the cerebral cortex - the outermost layer of the brain that is also known as "grey matter" and plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language and consciousness. They then analyzed more than 54,000 genetic variants possibly involved in brain development and found that, on average, teenagers with a particular gene variant had a thinner cortex in the left half of their brains - and were the ones who performed less well on tests for intellectual ability.

Star-rich galaxy found from universe's baby years

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronomers have found an old and distant galaxy that is believed to date back to a time when the universe was just 650 million years old, a fraction of its current age. Abell 2744_Y1 is the first distant galaxy to be found during a new Hubble Space Telescope project that makes use of naturally occurring zoom lenses in space. The technique, known as "gravitational lensing" has been used before to ferret out distant galaxies.

Scientists find gene linking brain's grey matter to intelligence

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Researchers have found a gene linking intelligence to the thickness of so-called "grey matter" in the brain, and say their discovery could help scientists understand how and why some people have learning difficulties. An international team of scientists analysed DNA samples and brain scans from more than 1,500 healthy 14-year-olds and gave them a series of tests to establish their verbal and non-verbal intelligence. The researchers looked at the cerebral cortex - the outermost layer of the brain that is also known as "grey matter" and plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language and consciousness. They then analysed more than 54,000 genetic variants possibly involved in brain development and found that, on average, teenagers with a particular gene variant had a thinner cortex in the left half of their brains - and were the ones who performed less well on tests for intellectual ability.

Scientists find gene linking brain's grey matter to intelligence

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Researchers have found a gene linking intelligence to the thickness of so-called "grey matter" in the brain, and say their discovery could help scientists understand how and why some people have learning difficulties. An international team of scientists analysed DNA samples and brain scans from more than 1,500 healthy 14-year-olds and gave them a series of tests to establish their verbal and non-verbal intelligence. The researchers looked at the cerebral cortex - the outermost layer of the brain that is also known as "grey matter" and plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language and consciousness. They then analysed more than 54,000 genetic variants possibly involved in brain development and found that, on average, teenagers with a particular gene variant had a thinner cortex in the left half of their brains - and were the ones who performed less well on tests for intellectual ability.

Monster Sunspot Larger Than Jupiter Stars in Amazing Sun Photos

A giant sunspot group takes center stage in these stunning images taken by avid sky photographer John Chumack.

Beauty Works Like a Drug on the Brain

Just like tasty food or good music, "being attached to someone, like a romantic partner, is rewarding for people," said study researcher Olga Chelnokova, a psychologist at the University of Oslo, in Norway. Thus, the opioid system might help humans choose the best mate by producing rewarding feelings when seeing those mates, while making unattractive mates less desirable.

Chikungunya Fever: Will the Virus Spread to the US?

Health experts are concerned that chikungunya fever — a debilitating mosquito-borne disease that was once confined to Africa and Asia — has now spread to the Caribbean and may soon begin to make its way across North and South America. And as the climate warms, "it's gradually moving northward," Harrington said — the mosquito is already found as far north as New York City.

Hundreds of Cancer Apps: Do They Work?

Smartphone apps aimed at preventing cancer, or helping people with the disease to manage it, have the potential to improve people's health, but many of these apps have drawbacks, researchers say. In a new study, researchers reviewed 295 cancer-focused apps available in the four major smartphone platforms (iPhone, Android, Nokia and BlackBerry). They found that most apps aimed to raise awareness about cancer (32 percent of the apps), followed by apps providing educational information about cancer (nearly 13 percent), and those designed to support fundraising efforts. Fewer of the apps aimed to help people with early detection (11.5 percent), prevention (2 percent) or management of cancer (nearly 4 percent), according to the study.

Bold Prediction: Intelligent Alien Life Could Be Found by 2040

By 2040 or so, astronomers will have scanned enough star systems to give themselves a great shot of discovering alien-produced electromagnetic signals, said Seth Shostak of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, Calif. "I think we'll find E.T. within two dozen years using these sorts of experiments," Shostak said here Thursday (Feb. 6) during a talk at the 2014 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) symposium at Stanford University. "Instead of looking at a few thousand star systems, which is the tally so far, we will have looked at maybe a million star systems" 24 years from now, Shostak said. Shostak's optimism is based partly on observations by NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, which has shown that the Milky Way galaxy likely teems with worlds capable of supporting life as we know it.

Ancient Star May Be Oldest in Known Universe

Astronomers have found what appears to be one of the oldest known stars in the universe. The ancient star formed not long after the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, according to Australia National University scientists. The star (called SMSS J031300.362670839.3) is located 6,000 light-years from Earth and formed from the remains of a primordial star that was 60 times more massive than the sun. "This is the first time that we've been able to unambiguously say that we've found the chemical fingerprint of a first star," lead scientist Stefan Keller, of the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, said in a statement.

Coca-Cola Returns Soda to Outer Space in New Olympics Ad

A new Olympics-themed Coca-Cola commercial features the International Space Station while recycling the soft drink company's own history in space. The minute-long TV ad, which shows a U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard the orbiting outpost watching their two nations going head-to-head in an Olympic hockey match on Earth, includes the return of the special can that Coca-Cola designed for a 1985 space shuttle mission. The commercial may have drawn inspiration from the real-life journey of an Olympic torch to the International Space Station (ISS) last November.

'Mother Lode' of Amazingly Preserved Fossils Discovered in Canada

A treasure trove of fossils chiseled out of a canyon in Canada's Kootenay National Park rivals the famous Burgess Shale, the best record of early life on Earth, scientists say. "Once we started to break fresh rock, we realized we had discovered something incredibly special," said Robert Gaines, a geologist at Pomona College in Pomona, Calif., and co-author of a new study announcing the find. The renowned Burgess Shale fossil quarry, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Yoho National Park, is in a glacier-carved cliff in the Canadian Rockies. Since then, several other fossil sites have been found in the Burgess Shale, but none as rich as the original.

How Do You Get Pink Eye?

If you've seen a case of pink eye — such as the inflamed eyes that NBC sportscaster Bob Costas is sporting during the current Winter Olympics — you know it looks even worse than it sounds. Pink eye, also known as conjunctivitis, develops when the transparent membrane, or conjunctiva, lining the eyelid and the white part of the eyeball gets inflamed. This has three main causes: an allergic reaction, a viral infection or a bacterial infection. You can get pink eye from someone else if their bacterial or viral infection passes to you, making this a very common and contagious malady.

World's Largest Trees Help Explain California Forests' Bald Spots

Trees in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, including giant sequoias, need sunlight, water and just the right kind of granite to grow, a new study finds. Visitors to the western Sierra's lower elevations may find themselves abruptly stepping from a lush redwood grove onto sun-lashed bedrock. "Bedrock can be just as strong as climate in controlling where vegetation does and doesn't appear in the Sierra Nevada," said Jesse Hahm, a geologist at the University of Wyoming and lead study author. "These trees have had thousands and thousands of years to colonize this elevation band in the western Sierra, and the fact they have not done so already suggests there's something about the bedrock," influencing the growth patterns, Hahm said.

Want to Rekindle Passion? Go on a Double Date (Op-Ed)

New research we have conducted suggests that getting to know another couple can counter the decline in passionate love that happens in so many people's relationships over time. All of the effort people put into their relationships around Valentine's Day or otherwise is for a good reason: A slew of psychological research suggests that passionate love — the feeling of love that swells with excitement, obsession and physiological arousal — declines as a relationship grows with age. As a relationships blossom over the years, the interaction between romantic partners becomes more routine, familiar and predictable.

How to Prevent a Broken Heart (Op-Ed)

George Gibbs is director of Pastoral Care and a clinical counselorat Ohio State University (OSU)'s Harding Hospital and Talbot Hall, part of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Many hearts will be filled this Valentine holiday, but a few will also be "broken." That's because being in love, or in any relationship, means taking a risk that all won't go as planned. As the director of Pastoral Care and a clinical counselor at OSU Harding Hospitalat The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, I counsel people that entering into a romantic relationship can make you vulnerable because it gives the other person importance in your life. It can be self-defeating to focus on the other person in such a way that it deteriorates one's own mental health.

Scientists to map genome of medieval English king Richard III

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - A year after they revealed a twisted skeleton found under a car park as the mortal remains of King Richard III, scientists in Britain plan to grind samples of his ancient bones and use them to map his genome. The project, which may alter perceptions of the last king of England to die in battle more than 500 years ago, aims to learn about Richard's ancestry and health, and provide a genetic archive for historians, researchers and the public. After taking a small sample of bone from the skeleton, Turi King of the University of Leicester genetics department will grind it to a powder, extract DNA and seek to piece together as much as possible of Richard's genetic code. Richard III's place in history is contested.

Scientists to map genome of medieval English king Richard III

King Richard III's Genome To Be Sequenced

The genetic code of King Richard III, the medieval monarch whose body was found buried under a parking lot in Leicester, England, is set to be sequenced. Researchers at the University of Leicester announced the project today (Feb. 11). "It is an extremely rare occurrence that archaeologists are involved in the excavation of a known individual, let alone a king of England," Turi King, a geneticist at the University of Leicester who will lead the project, said in a statement. Sequencing the genome of Richard III is a hugely important project that will help to teach us not only about him, but ferment discussion about how our DNA informs our sense of identity, our past and our future." [Photos: In Search of the Grave of Richard III]

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Monday, February 10, 2014

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Ancient star helps scientists understand universe's origins

Australian astronomers have found the oldest known star in the universe, a discovery that may help to resolve a long-standing discrepancy between observations and predictions of the Big Bang billions of years ago. Dr Stefan Keller, lead researcher at the Australian National University Research School, told Reuters his team had seen the chemical fingerprint of the "first star". "It's giving us insight into our fundamental place in the universe. What we're seeing is the origin of where all the material around us that we need to survive came from." Simply put, the Big Bang was the inception of the universe, he said, with nothing before that event.

Ancient star helps scientists understand universe's origins

8 Best Jobs for Retirees

Americans may be able to start collecting retirement benefits at age 62, but in today's world, many workers are continuing to stay employed well beyond retirement age. Whether they want to earn some extra cash, continue using their career skills, or try their hand at something new, more and more senior citizens are choosing to take a part-time job after retirement. Here are eight opportunities you can pursue as a retired worker. Whether it's with a day care or nursery school, or an independent child care service, watching children for busy parents during the work day or weekends is a great gig for a retired worker.

Depression in Space: How Computer Software Could Help Astronauts Cope

Astronauts on a deep-space mission will be much too far removed to make an office call to a specialist who could help handle depression and other psychosocial issues. Now, a set of self-directed modules could help astronauts work through these issues on their own while on a deep-space mission. James Cartreine, a licensed clinical psychologist and a researcher in the Brigham and Women's Hospital's (BWH) Program on Behavioral Informatics and eHealth, also produces interactive media and videos. (BWH is an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.) That melding of psychology and media led the researcher to create a suite of interactive media programs to help astronauts manage the pressure-cooker environment of lengthy space travel.

Meteor Shower Cameras Scan Night Sky to Study Near-Earth Objects

The cameras are part of a project to monitor the night sky for meteors, buts of space dust and debris that ignite as dazzling streaks as they hit Earth's upper atmosphere. Meteor showers are produced when dust or particles from comets or asteroids burn up in the atmosphere. The meteor-watching team, led by meteorite expert Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., observed 42 showers during January and February 2012, 16 of which were new. "That leaves us with 41 parent bodies out there that cross Earth's orbit at some point, and we don't know where they are," said study researcher Beth Johnson, a physics student at San Jose State University, who presented the results of the project in January at the annual American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, D.C.

Is the Loch Ness Monster Dead?

A veteran custodian of Loch Ness monster sightings is concerned that Nessie has not been seen in well over a year, and may be gone, according to a news report. Gary Campbell, who lives in Inverness in the United Kingdom has been keeping records of Loch Ness monster sightings for the past 17 years and has put together a list of sightings that goes back some 1,500 years, according to the BBC News. "The number of sightings has been reducing since the turn of the century but this is the first time in almost 90 years that Nessie wasn't seen at all." (Apparently three reports of possible Nessie sightings in 2013 were discredited after closer scrutiny, The Inverness Courier reported.) The Loch Ness monster first achieved notoriety in 1933 after a story was published in a local newspaper describing not a monstrous head or hump but instead a splashing in the water that appeared to be caused "by two ducks fighting." A famous photograph showing a mysterious head and neck brought Nessie international fame, but was revealed to be hoax decades later.

Hark, Quarks! Strange Tiny Particles Loom Large in New Study

The most precise measurement yet of a fundamental property of quarks — one of the building blocks of matter — brings scientists closer to finding new exotic particles. At the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists fired a beam of electrons at an atom of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, which consists of one proton and one neutron. They looked at the way the electrons scattered after hitting the nucleus of the atom, and used that pattern to find out more about quarks, which make up protons and neutrons. The experiment is similar to one done in the late 1970s, which helped confirm that the Standard Model successfully explained the behavior of tiny particles.

Oversized Rats Could Take Over Earth After Next Mass Extinction

In the event of a future mass extinction, rats may be the animals best suited to repopulate the world, some scientists say. And if rats did "take over" after such a wipeout, they'd likely balloon in size, scientists also say. Some researchers think the Earth is on the brink of its next mass extinction that could hit within the next several centuries, as a result of human-induced habitat destruction and environmental degradation, said Jan Zalasiewicz, a geologist at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom who studies Earth history. Zalasiewicz and colleagues have developed a thought experiment in which they consider which animal might be the most likely to survive and repopulate the world if this purported mass extinction were to take place — and they concluded that rats may be the best candidates.

Female Mice Choose Mates That Don't Sing Like Dad

In the study, the researchers raised female mice with either their biological father, an unrelated father or no father at all. The female mice raised with their biological father spent most of their time in rooms playing the songs of males that were unrelated to them, the researchers found.

Birds Give Evil Eye to Ward Off Intruders

Unlike their dark-eyed relatives, rooks and crows, "jackdaw eyes are almost white, and their striking pale irises are very conspicuous against their dark feathers," Gabrielle Davidson, lead author of the study, detailed Tuesday (Feb. 4) in the journal Biology Letters, said in a statement. But do jackdaws use their bright eyes for communication? One was solid black, one had just a pair of jackdaw eyes, one had a jackdaw's face with jackdaw eyes and one had a jackdaw's face with black rook eyes. The trouble often starts when jackdaws approach nests belonging to other birds.

Microwaving Your Meals: Skipping 1 Step Can Make You Sick

During the outbreak, which occurred in summer 2010, people in 18 states fell ill with a type of bacteria called Salmonella enterica. Most of the people who fell ill in the outbreak reported cooking their meal in the microwave, but not all of them let the meal stand for the recommended time in the microwave before they dug in, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Consumers should not only follow instructions for microwaving, but should also allow the product to stand for the recommended time before consuming," the CDC said. A common feature of foodborne-illness outbreaks linked with frozen meals is the misconception that these foods are ready to eat, and just need to be reheated, the CDC said.

Sochi Olympics: Which Winter Sports Burn the Most Calories?

Regardless of whether they win gold, athletes at this year's Winter Olympics will no doubt expend a significant number of calories as they try to ski, jump and skate their way past the competition. An elite racer who weighs 220 lbs. (100 kilograms) would burn about 260 calories during 10 minutes of cross-country skiing at a pace of at least 8 mph (13 km/h), according to the Compendium. Cross-country skiing, figure skating and speed skating are aerobic activities that require a significant amount of oxygen consumption, so they burn more calories, said Richard Cotton, an exercise physiologist and national director of certification at the American College of Sports Medicine.

3 Things to Know About Your Food's Nutrition Label

Food manufacturers label foods in a way that makes foods more appealing, so you buy them — that's their job. But your job is to make healthy choices for yourself and your family. For example, a 2012 study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that college students who checked food labels were more likely to consume less fast food and added sugar, and more fiber, than those who were not in the habit of checking labels. It's easy to quickly scan a food label and miss important facts that could sabotage an otherwise healthy diet.

To the Powerless, World Weighs Heavier

The effect may be evolution's quirky way of preventing the socially powerless from exhausting their resources, said study researcher Eun Hee Lee, a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge. "Powerful people know they have control of resources for themselves, and even others' [resources]," Lee told Live Science. Power dynamics are a fact of living as a social organism — any time there is more than one person, power dynamics exist, she said.

Gladiator Heads? Mystery of Trove of British Skulls Solved

A trove of skulls and other body parts unearthed in the heart of London may have once belonged to Roman gladiators, war captives or criminals, a new study suggests. The remains, described in the January issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, belonged to about 40 men, mostly ages 25 to 35, and were marred by violence: cheek fractures, blunt-force trauma to the head, decapitation and injuries from sharp weapons, said study co-author Rebecca Redfern, a curator and bioarchaeologist at the Museum of London.

February Stargazing: Planets, Comets and Constellations Shine in Night Sky

The constellation Orion also takes a prominent position in the winter sky, and Jupiter can be seen after sunset during February. "After the sun sets on these cold February days, look for a bright 'star' blazing high over head," officials with the Hubble Space Telescope's Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI) said in a video about February skywatching. "This is actually not a star at all, but the planet Jupiter. Uranus and Neptune can be spotted through binoculars or a telescope, Jane Houston Jones said in a NASA skywatching video.

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Sunday, February 9, 2014

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Want to See the Northern Lights? There's an App for That

ATLANTA - The Fairbanks North Star Borough, the area around Fairbanks, Alaska, has about 85,000 people in it. But the area more than doubles its population when all of the tourists who come to see the spectacle of the northern lights are factored in, says Don Hampton, an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. So to bring the auroras to the rest of the world, and to get people interested in space weather, Hampton has helped maintain a set of cameras at the Poker Flat Research Range (originally a sounding rocket research site) focused on providing real-time images of the ebb and flow of the aurora borealis.

Stargazing Duo Snaps Gorgeous Photo of Triangulum Galaxy

Two astrophotographers teamed up to take this stunning image of one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye: the Triangulum Galaxy. Based in the Netherlands, André van der Hoeven joined Michael van Doorn to create this stunning image of the Triangulum Galaxy, a spiral galaxy located approximately 3 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. Catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, the Triangulum Galaxy is the third largest member the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 30 other smaller galaxies. Van Doorn used a Celestron C11 with Hyperstar at f/2 to take his portion of the imaging.

Stronger Pacific winds explain global warming hiatus: study

Last year, scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the pace of temperature rise at the Earth's surface had slowed over the past 15 years, even though greenhouse gas emissions, widely blamed for causing climate change, have risen steadily. A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Sunday said stronger Pacific trade winds - a pattern of easterly winds spanning the tropics - over the past two decades had made ocean circulation at the Equator speed up, moving heat deeper into the ocean and bringing cooler water to the surface. "We show that a pronounced strengthening in Pacific trade winds over the past two decades is sufficient to account for the cooling of the tropical Pacific and a substantial slowdown in surface warming," said the study, led by scientists from the University of New South Wales in Australia. "The net effect of these anomalous winds is a cooling in the 2012 global average surface air temperature of 0.1-0.2 degrees Celsius, which can account for much of the hiatus in surface warming since 2001." COOLING DOWN The study's authors, including scientists from other research centers and universities in the United States, Hawaii and Australia, used weather forecasting and satellite data and climate models to make their conclusions.

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