Monthly Archives: August 2012

Calorie restriction doesn't add years of life, at least to monkeys

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A pair of 27-year-old monkeys are part of a national study that failed to find a longevity benefit to calorie restrictions. The one on the left consumed 30 percent fewer calories than the monkey on the right.

National Institute on Aging

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SALT LAKE CITY Restricting calories may extend the life of rodents, but it doesn't seem to increase longevity for monkeys, according to surprise findings in a much-anticipated study published this week by the journal Nature. Monkeys do, however, get some health benefits from consuming fewer calories.

Many earlier studies suggested that restricting calories adds years to life in lab-bred rodents. The findings were so compelling, in fact, that many scientists and others have curbed their own caloric intake in anticipation of reaping extra years. Caloric restriction decreases calories by as much as 40 percent, but maintains the nutrients found in a standard diet.

Drug manufacturers have sought drugs that would "mimic the salutary effects of a skimpy diet without triggering severe hunger pangs," according to an article in the Wall Street Journal.

The new research, collected over 30 years (because that's the outer lifespan of monkeys), casts doubt on whether the benefits found for rodents would extend to people, since monkeys and humans are primates and more similar genetically.

"One thing that's becoming clear is that calorie restriction is not a Holy Grail for extending the lifespan of everything that walks on earth," Rafael de Cabo, an experimental gerontologist in the U.S. National Institute on Aging and lead study author, told WSJ.

To test the calorie restriction theory, the NIA scientists restricted by 30 percent the diets fed two sets of monkeys. The first group included monkeys ages 1 to 14, while the other group was made up of older monkeys, 16 to 23. They were compared to similar groups with more normal diets.

The male animals on calorie restriction had lower cholesterol; the females didn't. Cancer incidence appeared to fall with caloric restriction, but heart disease increased slightly. Age-related diseases, however, appeared a bit later in calorie-restricted animals.

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Marsh & McLennan Companies Partners with Stanford Center on Longevity to Foster Lifetime Financial Security Preparedness

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC), a global professional services firm providing advice and solutions in risk, strategy and human capital, and the Stanford Center on Longevity, a research center at Stanford University, today announced that the two organizations will collaborate to raise awareness and preparedness around lifetime financial security. As part of its previously announced commitment to fund retirement policy exploration, Marsh & McLennan Companies will contribute $1.5 million through 2013 to support the Stanford Center on Longevitys studies and activities related to financial security.

Marsh & McLennan Companies is eager to advance awareness and education around issues related to retirement and aging populations. Two aspects of those issuesincreased longevity and financial securityare top of mind for governments, businesses and individuals, said Brian Duperreault, President and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies. Through our Companys support of the Stanford Center on Longevity, we will take part in forward-looking dialogue on these issues and work to be a catalyst for new ideas and perspectives that benefit the greater good of the aging population and of future generations, Mr. Duperreault concluded.

It is a privilege for the Stanford Center on Longevity to receive this support for our programs from Marsh & McLennan Companies, said Laura Carstensen, Founding Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Our Center aims to connect with the best thinkers, business leaders and policy makers, and we look forward to the insights Marsh & McLennan Companies will provide based on its deep expertise in risk, strategy and human capital.

Michele Burns, who previously served as Chairman and CEO of Mercer, a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, and was named to lead Marsh & McLennan Companies retirement policy center exploration last year, will serve as Center Fellow and Strategic Advisor to the Stanford Center on Longevity. She will join Founding Director Laura Carstensen, PhD and Deputy Director Thomas Rando, MD, PhD in providing strategic guidance for the overall efforts of the Center and development of the Financial Security Division of the Center.

In exploring how Marsh & McLennan Companies could have the greatest impact in the retirement policy arena, the Stanford Center on Longevity emerged as an excellent partner, said Michele Burns. The Center brings a unique perspective to issues facing our society by rethinking the perceived problems around an aging populationchallenges such as retirement planning and the need to work longerand finding value in the opportunities these challenges present.

The Centers Financial Security Division, in collaboration with Marsh & McLennan Companies, will examine these issues from multiple perspectives, ranging from individual financial capability, the changing nature and role of work, common financial pitfalls such as fraud, and the resulting key policy issues. The goal is to help drive the dialogue forward in order to facilitate a healthier state of long-term financial securityboth for the individual and society. I am very proud to work with the Stanford Center on Longevity on these issues and to contribute to solutions that can make a difference for us all, Ms. Burns concluded.

The two organizations recently collaborated on a conference that brought together contributors from business, academia and government to address retirement planning in the age of longevity. The insights discussed at the conference are being used to inform the Stanford Center on Longevitys financial security agenda as well as recommendations for future policy and research. The Centers Financial Security Division will also launch an expanded web presence this fall that will highlight the Divisions work and will also serve as an information resource for key stakeholders.

About Marsh & McLennan Companies

MARSH & McLENNAN COMPANIES (MMC) is a global team of professional services companies offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy and human capital. Marsh is a global leader in insurance broking andrisk management; Guy Carpenter is a global leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary services; Mercer is a global leader in human resource consulting and related services; and Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting. Marsh & McLennan Companies 53,000 colleagues worldwide provide analysis, advice and transactional capabilities to clients in more than 100 countries. The Company prides itself on being a responsible corporate citizen and making a positive impact in the communities in which it operates. Visit http://www.mmc.com for more information.

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Chew on this: Starving yourself may not help longevity

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The longevity diet's premise is seductively simple: cutting your calorie intake well below your usual diet will add years to your life.

New research published on Wednesday, however, shows the extreme, emaciating diet doesn't increase lifespan in rhesus monkeys, the closest human relatives to try it in a rigorous, long-running study. While caveats remain, outside experts regarded the findings as definitive, particularly when combined with those from a similar study.

"If there's a way to manipulate the human diet to let us live longer, we haven't figured it out yet and it may not exist," said biologist Steven Austad of the University of Texas Health Science Center's Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, who wrote an analysis of the study in Nature.

Since 1934, research has shown that lab rats, mice, yeast, fruit flies and round worms fed 10 percent to 40 percent fewer calories than their free-eating peers lived some 30 percent longer. In some studies, they lived twice as long.

Such findings have spawned a growing community of believers who seek better health and longer life in calorie-restricted (CR)diets, as promised in the 2005 book "The Longevity Diet," including 5,000 members of the CR Society International. The research has also prompted companies like Procter & Gamble and Nu Skin Enterprises to develop drugs to mimic the effects of calorie restriction.

The new study, from the National Institute on Aging, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, suggests a surprising disconnect between health and lifespan. It found that most of the 57 calorie-restricted monkeys had healthier hearts and immune systems and lower rates of diabetes, cancer or other ills than the 64 control monkeys. But there was no longevity pay-off.

"You can argue that the calorie-restricted animals are healthier," said Austad. "They have better cholesterol profiles, less muscle loss, less disease. But it didn't translate into greater longevity. What we learn from this is you can un-link health and longevity."

Younger immune systems, less heart disease

The NIA study, launched in 1987, is one of two investigating whether eating just 70 percent of the calories in a standard lab diet extends life in a long-lived primate. The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center's study, begun in 1989, also uses rhesus monkeys, whose physiology, genetics and median lifespan (27 years) are closer to humans than are the rodents in earlier calorie-restriction research.

Initial results were promising. In 2006 the NIA group reported that calorie-restricted monkeys had younger-seeming immune systems. Wisconsin reported that after 20 years of eating like birds, the monkeys were less likely to get heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other diseases of aging.

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Chew on this: Starving yourself may not help longevity

After DNA review, murder charges being dismissed 17 years later

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Alprentiss Nash, shown in 2010 at Menard Correctional Center, has been fighting his murder conviction since a genetic test showed someone else's DNA was on a ski mask found at the scene. (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune / September 29, 2010)

11:09 a.m. CDT, August 30, 2012

Alprentiss Nash, 37, was sentenced to 80 years for the death of Lion Stroud. According to prosecutors, Nash was wearing a black ski mask when he broke into Stroud's home in 1995. The mask was found near the crime scene, they said.

Cook County prosecutors opposed Nash's request for DNA testing on the ski mask, but the Illinois Appellate Court later ordered it. Testing was done on skin cells found on the mask, and the genetic profile was matched to an inmate who recently was paroled from prison after serving time for a drug conviction.

Nash's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, requested additional testing and the state's attorney's office agreed.

In an interview at Menard Correctional Center earlier this year, Nash said he hoped the DNA results would lead to his release. "I'm tired of doing time," he said.

Chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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After DNA review, murder charges being dismissed 17 years later

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New DNA method tracks fish and whales in seawater

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) Danish researchers at University of Copenhagen lead the way for future monitoring of marine biodiversity and resources by using DNA traces in seawater samples to keep track of fish and whales in the oceans. A half litre of seawater can contain evidence of local fish and whale faunas and combat traditional fishing methods. Their results are now published in the international scientific journal PLOS ONE.

"The new DNA-method means that we can keep better track of life beneath the surface of the oceans around the world, and better monitor and protect ocean biodiversity and resources," says PhD student Philip Francis Thomsen from the Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.

Marine ecosystems worldwide are under threat with many fish species and populations suffering from human over-exploitation, which greatly impacts global biodiversity, economy and human health. Today, marine fish are largely surveyed using selective and invasive methods mostly limited to commercial species, and restricted to areas with favourable conditions.

However, researchers at Centre for GeoGenetics now lead the way for future monitoring of marine biodiversity. They have shown that seawater contains DNA from animals such as fish and whales. The species leave behind a trace of DNA that reveals their presence in the ocean based on water samples of just half a litre.

From freshwater to seawater

The development of the novel DNA monitoring approach was accomplished by PhD student Philip Francis Thomsen and Master's student Jos Kielgast from the Centre for GeoGenetics headed by Professor Eske Willerslev. In December last year, they showed that small freshwater samples contain DNA from several different threatened animals, and after having published these results they began to focus on seawater. Here it also proved possible to obtain DNA directly from the water, which originated from local species living in the area.

"We analysed seawater samples specifically for fish DNA and we were very surprised when the results started to show up on the screen. We ended up with DNA from 15 different fish species in water samples of just a half litre. We found DNA from both small and large fish, as well as both common species and rare guests. Cod, herring, eel, plaice, pilchard and many more have all left a DNA trace in the seawater," says Philip Francis Thomsen.

In the other study the researchers showed that it is also possible to obtain DNA from harbour porpoise in small water samples taken in the sea, so the approach is not only limited to fish, but can also track large marine mammals.

A new and efficient method

The study also compares the new DNA method with existing methods traditionally used for monitoring fish such as trawl and pots. Here, the DNA method proved as good as or mostly better than existing methods. Moreover, the DNA method has a big advantage that it can be performed virtually anywhere without impacting the local habitat -- it just requires a sample of water. Associate Professor and fish expert Peter Rask Mller from the National History Museum of Denmark, who also participated in the study, is optimistic.

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Cancer 'turns off' important immune cells, complicating experimental vaccine therapies

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Public release date: 30-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Cody Mooneyhan cmooneyhan@faseb.org 301-634-7104 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Bethesda, MDA research report published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology offers a possible explanation of why some cancer vaccines are not as effective as hoped, while at the same time identifies a new therapeutic strategy for treating autoimmune problems. In the report, scientists suggest that cancer, even in the very early stages, produces a negative immune response from dendritic cells, which prevent lymphocytes from working against the disease. Although problematic for cancer treatment, these flawed dendritic cells could be valuable therapeutic tools for preventing the immune system from attacking what it should not, as is the case with autoimmune disorders and organ transplants.

"Immunotherapy of cancer has been an elusive research target that, though promising, never seems to 'get there,'" said Jos Alexandre M. Barbuto, Ph.D., from the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology, Department of Immunology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the University of So Paulo, in So Paulo, Brazil. "This study helps us to better understand the mechanisms by which tumors avoid immune recognition and rejection and may, therefore, teach us how to actually engage effectively the immune system in the fight against tumors, thus achieving much better clinical responses and, consequently, quality of life, in our therapeutic approaches."

To make this discovery, researchers obtained a small sample of blood from breast cancer patients, and from healthy volunteers. The blood cells were then separated and induced to become dendritic cells. Researchers then used these laboratory-generated dendritic cells to induce responses from other immune system cells, namely lymphocytes. While dendritic cells from the healthy donors induced vigorous lymphocytic responses, dendritic cells from cancer patients induced mainly the activation of a specific type of lymphocyte, a regulatory lymphocyte that works as a "brake" for other types of lymphocytes.

"Understanding why the immune system does not recognize and eliminate cancer is critical to developing effective immunotherapies to fight the disease," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. "Immunologists have been trying to unravel the answer to this question for decades and have realized that the problem is both on the immune system side, and because cancer cells appear to actively 'fly under the radar' avoiding immune system detection. This article offers insights into the underlying mechanisms regulating a key immune cell type, the dendritic cell, involved in initiating anti-tumor responses."

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The Journal of Leukocyte Biology publishes peer-reviewed manuscripts on original investigations focusing on the cellular and molecular biology of leukocytes and on the origins, the developmental biology, biochemistry and functions of granulocytes, lymphocytes, mononuclear phagocytes and other cells involved in host defense and inflammation. The Journal of Leukocyte Biology is published by the Society for Leukocyte Biology.

Rodrigo Nalio Ramos, Lilian Sally Chin, Ana Paula S. A. dos Santos, Patrcia Cruz Bergami-Santos, Fbio Laginha, and Jos Alexandre M. Barbuto. Monocyte-derived dendritic cells from breast cancer patients are biased to induce CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. J Leukoc Biol September 2012 92:673-682; doi:10.1189/jlb.0112048 ; http://www.jleukbio.org/content/92/3/673.abstract

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Cancer 'turns off' important immune cells, complicating experimental vaccine therapies

‘Promiscuous’ enzymes still prevalent in metabolism

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Enzymes are often thought to be specific, catalyzing only one reaction in a cell (left). However, some more promiscuous enzymes have many functions and catalyze many reactions in a cell. This study shows that promiscuous enzymes play a larger part in cell growth than previously thought. Credit: Courtesy of Systems Biology Research Group, UC San Diego, Jacobs School of Engineering

Open an undergraduate biochemistry textbook and you will learn that enzymes are highly efficient and specific in catalyzing chemical reactions in living organisms, and that they evolved to this state from their "sloppy" and "promiscuous" ancestors to allow cells to grow more efficiently. This fundamental paradigm is being challenged in a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego, who reported in the journal Science what a few enzymologists have suspected for years: many enzymes are still pretty sloppy and promiscuous, catalyzing multiple chemical reactions in living cells, for reasons that were previously not well understood.

In this study, the research team, led by Bernhard Palsson, Galetti Professor of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, brought together decades of work on the behavior of individual enzymes to produce a genome-scale model of E. coli metabolism and report that at least 37 percent of its enzymes catalyze multiple metabolic reactions that occur in an actively growing cell.

"We've been able to stitch all of the enzymes together into one giant model, giving us a holistic view of what has been driving the evolution of enzymes and found that it isn't quite what we've thought it to be," said Palsson.

When organisms evolve, it is the genes or proteins that change. Therefore, gene and protein evolution has classically been studied one gene at a time. However in this work, Palsson and his colleagues, introduce an important paradigm shift by demonstrating that the evolution of individual proteins and enzymes is influenced by the function of all of the other enzymes in an organism, and how they all work together to support the growth rate of the cell.

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Each gene and protein in a cell has a function, and many of these functions are linked to each other. Thus, as organisms evolve, the collective functions of all genes and proteins in the cells influence the evolution of each gene or protein. Credit: Courtesy of Systems Biology Research Group, UC San Diego, Jacobs School of Engineering

"Our study found that the functions of promiscuous enzymes are still used in growing cells, but the sloppiness of these enzymes is not detrimental to growth. They are much less sensitive to changes in the environment and not as necessary for efficient cell growth," said Nathan Lewis, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the Jacobs School in March and is now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.

This study is also a triumph in the emerging field of systems biology, which leverages the power of high-performance computing and an enormous amount of available data from the life sciences to simulate activities such as the rates of reactions that break down nutrients to make energy and new cell parts. "This study sheds light on the vast number of promiscuous enzymes in living organisms and shifts the paradigm of research in biochemistry to a holistic level," said Lewis. "The insights found in our work also clearly show that fine-grained knowledge can be obtained about individual proteins while using large-scale models." This concept will yield immediate and more distant results.

"Our team's findings could also inform other research efforts into which enzymes require further study for overlooked promiscuous activities," said Hojung Nam, a postdoctoral researcher in Palsson's lab. "Besides testing and characterizing more enzymes for potential promiscuous activities, enzyme promiscuity could have far-reaching impacts as scientists try to understand how unexpected promiscuous activities of enzymes contribute to diseases such as leukemia and brain tumors," said Nam.

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'Promiscuous' enzymes still prevalent in metabolism

Leaders' emotional cues may predict acts of terror or political aggression

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Public release date: 30-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Elaine Bible ebible@sfsu.edu 415-405-3606 San Francisco State University

Leaders often use rousing speeches to evoke powerful emotions, and those emotions may predict when a group will commit an act of violence or terrorism, according to new research published in the journal Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression. Analysis of speeches delivered by government, activist and terrorist leaders found that leaders' expressions of anger, contempt and disgust spiked immediately before their group committed an act of violence.

"When leaders express a combination of anger, contempt and disgust in their speeches, it seems to be instrumental in inciting a group to act violently," said David Matsumoto, professor of psychology at San Francisco State University.

As part of a five-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense's Minerva Initiative, Matsumoto and colleagues studied the transcripts of speeches delivered by the leaders of ideologically motivated groups over the past 100 years. The analysis included such speeches as Osama bin Laden's remarks leading up to the bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The researchers analyzed the pattern of emotions conveyed when leaders spoke about their rival group and examined speeches given at three points in time before a specific act of aggression. They compared the results with the content of speeches delivered by leaders whose groups engaged in nonviolent acts of resistance such as rallies and protests.

Among leaders of groups that committed aggressive acts, there was a significant increase in expressions of anger, contempt and disgust from 3 to 6 months prior to the group committing an act of violence. For nonviolent groups, expressions of anger, contempt and disgust decreased from 3 to 6 months prior to the group staging an act of peaceful resistance.

Matsumoto says the findings suggest a leader's emotional tone may cause the rest of the group to share those emotions, which then motivates the group to take part in violent actions.

"For groups that committed acts of violence, there seemed to be this saturation of anger, contempt and disgust. That combination seems to be a recipe for hatred that leads to violence," Matsumoto said.

Anger, contempt and disgust may be particularly important drivers of violent behavior because they are often expressed in response to moral violations, says Matsumoto, and when an individual feels these emotions about a person or group, they often feel that their opponent is unchangeable and inherently bad.

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At the Alexandrinsky Theatre began to unravel “Anatomy of soul” of modern Nevskog prospektao

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Anatomy of soul the modern Nevsky prospect began to unravel, the artistic director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Petersburg, Valeriy Fokin-Director Dmitry Volkostrelov, Dmitry Egorov, Alexei Zabegin, Dmitriy Yushkov and theatre artist Simon Shepherd. Correspondent reports BakuToday, about the beginning of work on the draft Fokin told today, 30 August, and at a press conference dedicated to the start of season 257 Alexandrinsky theatre.

Nevsky-what a street became, this advertising, boutiques, folks. How far this Nevsky left healthily? -ponders Fokin. -But this is hoholivske space left. Lies and deception, encountered by the heroes, there are not changed. And in our project Gogols characters would be presented together with the moderns.

Fuller noted that this work on Nevsky, show our positions on the new programme. The concern is that the theater will celebrate a decade of 7 October new life programme and performance traditions Auditor, which, in fact, started a new interpretation of the classical repertoire.

Valeriy Fokin said that in General, the programme completed its task, we will gather scientific conference, a round table, to analyze the work and talk about how to interact with the classics. Life requires a different approach, said the Director. -Theatre must be deployed to what is happening in society, scan now on the theatrical stage actually much needed analysis, but it is quite another.

Nevsky Prospekt, timed to coincide with the opening of the new artistic programme of Alexandrinsky Theatre Creative space, scheduled for April, 2013. As was stressed at the theatre, in the play will be a strategy document, the so-called verbatim, several novels will present viewers with a collective portrait of todays Nevsky.

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Hurricane Isaac seen from International Space Station

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Images taken from the International Space Station on Tuesday show Hurricane Isaac dominating the Gulf of Mexico as the storm lashes New Orleans.

The category one hurricane moved into Louisiana late on Tuesday and by Wednesday morning was sitting southwest of the city of New Orleans.

The city has been hit with winds of up to 85mph and more than nine inches of rain, with the storm due to continue for another day.

But apart from some buildings in the city suffering from minor storm damage and trees being uprooted, New Orleans appears to have avoided the worst of the storm and a repeat of the devastation caused by Katrina. Multi-billion dollar flood defences built after Katrina largely held up, according to the Army Corp of Engineers.

The eye of the storm will not move over New Orleans, and the storm is likely to be downgraded later on Wednesday.

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Hurricane Isaac seen from International Space Station

Space station science goes live on YouTube

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Published: Aug. 29, 2012 at 8:38 PM

PARIS, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Winners of a science competition will see their space experiments transmitted live from the International Space Station via YouTube, officials said.

In the culmination of the YouTube Spacelab competition held by NASA, YouTube, the European Space agency and Lenovo, astronauts will reveal the results of the two winning experiments live from the International Space Station and share them online on YouTube, an ESA release from the agency's Paris headquarters said Wednesday.

The livestream will connect the Station to YouTube's London studio on Sept. 13 and will be hosted by famous TV moderator Bill Nye, "The Science Guy."

The worldwide science competition that challenged 14- to 18-year-olds to design a science experiment for space has crowned two global winners, Amr Mohamed from Alexandria, Egypt, and Dorothy Chen and Sara Ma from Michigan.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams will perform the winning experiments during a YouTube broadcast from 250 miles above the Earth.

"The YouTube SpaceLab campaign has been an excellent, creative way of reaching out to future generations of scientists, on the ground and in orbit," said Frank De Winne, Europe's first commander of the orbital outpost who served as a judge for the competition.

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A DIY Space Suit for the 99 Percent

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Cameron M. Smith at home working on his DIY Spacesuit. Photo: Jos Mandojana

Taking a balloon up into the lower stratosphere may seem crazy, but to Cameron M. Smith its an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream. The 45-year-old Portland State University anthropologist couldnt join NASAs aviation program because of his poor eyesight. Lacking the funds to buy a ticket on a private space flight, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

At 50,000 feet up, death is imminent, so the first thing to do was build a suit. Smith bought some of the parts off the Internet: a divers dry suit, a gauge that measures internal air pressure, and an aquarium pump to circulate cooling fluid. Ace Hardware had other bits like nylon straps, wire, and a slew of PVC fittings and valves. Its topped off with an authentic 1980s-era soviet fighter helmet.

Once the proof-of-concept suit is complete, Smith will test his rig in a hypobaric chamber, and if all goes well it will be rebuilt with sturdier elements. Then hell craft a nylon balloon, get a balloon pilots license, and clear his route with authorities. If they could do this in the 1930s with rubberized canvas and pigskin gloves, surely I can do it now with the technology available, Smith says. This is not so crazy. This is not so wild. Sure. Well just stay on the ground and watch from here, thanks.

This article was originally published August 17, 2012.

Video: Alexa Inkeles

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NASA's 'Mighty Eagle' robotic prototype lander takes 100-foot free flight

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2012) With a whistle and a roar, the "Mighty Eagle," a NASA robotic prototype lander, sailed to an altitude of 100 feet during another successful free flight Aug. 28 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

During the 35-second run, the vehicle was "open loop" -- navigating autonomously without the command of the onboard camera and flying on a preprogrammed flight profile. Once it reached the 100-foot mark, the "Mighty Eagle" identified a new, larger target on the ground about 100 feet away, took pictures, processed the images and safely landed. The test is part of a new series of free flights testing the robotic prototype lander's autonomous rendezvous and capture capabilities. Testing will continue through September.

"We met our goal for this flight, which was to test the new software at triple the height of our last flight," said Dr. Greg Chavers, "Mighty Eagle" test lead at the Marshall Center. "The higher we go, the more realistic the scenario is compared to an actual descent."

"This test article is a vehicle system and requires a lot of team interaction," said Jake Parton, test conductor on the flight. Parton is one of several young engineers gaining experience and getting guidance from senior engineers on the "Mighty Eagle" project. The test team's ages range from 25 to 71.

"We are getting good experience in handling flight hardware and reacting to real-time conditions and anomalies," said Parton. "Each time we test, we load propellant, launch the vehicle, fly the vehicle and land the vehicle. It's hands-on flight experience for young engineers."

Nicknamed the "Mighty Eagle" after one of the characters in the popular "Angry Birds" game, the vehicle is a three-legged prototype that resembles an actual flight lander design. It is 4 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter and, when fueled, weighs 700 pounds. It is fueled by 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide and receives its commands from an onboard computer that activates its onboard thrusters to carry it to a controlled landing using a pre-programmed flight profile.

NASA will use the "Mighty Eagle" to mature the technology needed to develop a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of achieving scientific and exploration goals on the surface of the moon, asteroids or other airless bodies.

The "Mighty Eagle" was developed by the Marshall Center and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., for NASA's Planetary Sciences Division, Headquarters Science Mission Directorate. Key partners in this project include the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, which includes the Science Applications International Corporation, Dynetics Corp., and Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., all of Huntsville.

Watch the video of the Mighty Eagle flight on Aug. 28 at the Marshall Center: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=151295641

For more information on NASA's robotic landers, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/lunarquest/robotic/index.html

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NASA's 'Mighty Eagle' robotic prototype lander takes 100-foot free flight

NASA launches radiation belt storm probes mission

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), the first twin-spacecraft mission designed to explore our planet's radiation belts, launched into the predawn skies at 4:05 a.m. EDT Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

"Scientists will learn in unprecedented detail how the radiation belts are populated with charged particles, what causes them to change and how these processes affect the upper reaches of the atmosphere around Earth," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington. "The information collected from these probes will benefit the public by allowing us to better protect our satellites and understand how space weather affects communications and technology on Earth."

The two satellites, each weighing just less than 1,500 pounds, comprise the first dual-spacecraft mission specifically created to investigate this hazardous regions of near-Earth space, known as the radiation belts. These two belts, named for their discoverer, James Van Allen, encircle the planet and are filled with highly charged particles. The belts are affected by solar storms and coronal mass ejections and sometimes swell dramatically. When this occurs, they can pose dangers to communications, GPS satellites and human spaceflight.

"We have never before sent such comprehensive and high-quality instruments to study high radiation regions of space," said Barry Mauk, RBSP project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. "RBSP was crafted to help us learn more about, and ultimately predict, the response of the radiation belts to solar inputs."

The hardy RBSP satellites will spend the next 2 years looping through every part of both Van Allen belts. By having two spacecraft in different regions of the belts at the same time, scientists finally will be able to gather data from within the belts themselves, learning how they change over space and time. Designers fortified RBSP with special protective plating and rugged electronics to operate and survive within this punishing region of space that other spacecraft avoid. In addition, a space weather broadcast will transmit selected data from those instruments around the clock, giving researchers a check on current conditions near Earth.

"The excitement of seeing the spacecraft in orbit and beginning to perform science measurements is like no other thrill," said Richard Fitzgerald, RBSP project manager at APL. "The entire RBSP team, from across every organization, worked together to produce an amazing pair of spacecraft."

RBSP was lifted into orbit aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex-41, as the rocket's plume lit the dark skies over the Florida coast. The first RBSP spacecraft is scheduled to separate from the Atlas rocket's Centaur booster 1 hour, 18 minutes, 52 seconds after launch. The second RBSP spacecraft is set to follow 12 minutes, 14 seconds later. Mission controllers using APL's 60-foot satellite dish will establish radio contact with each probe immediately after separation.

During the next 60 days, operators will power up all flight systems and science instruments and deploy long antenna booms, two of which are more than 54 yards long. Data about the particles that swirl through the belts, and the fields and waves that transport them, will be gathered by five instrument suites designed and operated by teams at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark; the University of Iowa in Iowa City; University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; and the University of New Hampshire in Durham; and the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va. The data will be analyzed by scientists across the nation almost immediately.

RBSP is the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. APL built the RBSP spacecraft and will manage the mission for NASA. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance provided the Atlas V launch service.

For more information about NASA's RBSP mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp

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NASA launches radiation belt storm probes mission

NASA telescope detects 'bonanza' of humongous black holes

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NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey telescope has spotted millions of 'supermassive' black holes gorging on matter, says the space agency.

A jackpot of previously unknown black holes across the universe has been discovered by the infrared eyes of a prolific NASA sky-mapping telescope.

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The cosmic find comes from data collected by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey (WISE) telescope, which scanned the entire sky in infrared light from December 2009 to February 2011. The full catalog of observations byWISEduring its mission was publicly released in March, and astronomers are still poring through this celestrial trove for discoveries.

"WISE has found a bonanza ofblack holesin the universe," astronomer Daniel Stern of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., said during a news briefing today (Aug. 29). WISE turned up about three times as manyblack holesas have been found by comparable surveys in visible light, offering up a total of 2.5 million new sources across the sky.

These black holes aren't the average tiny, dense objects created by the collapse of dead stars, but rather humongous "supermassive" black holes that have been caught feasting on matter falling into them. Such active black holes are known as quasars, and are some of the brightest objects in the universe, because of light released by the infalling matter. [Photos: Millions of Black Holes Seen by WISE Telescope]

"We expected that there should be this large population of hidden quasars in the universe, but WISE can now identify them across the sky," Stern said. "We think these quasars are really important for shaping how galaxies look today."

In addition to this haul of gorging black holes, WISE has turned up a smaller population of rarer objects researchers are dubbing "hot DOGs," for hot, dust-obscured galaxies.

These galaxies are thought to be extremely bright, but appear very faint to us because their light is shrouded by dust.

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NASA telescope detects 'bonanza' of humongous black holes

NASA Launches Twin Satellites

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Twin satellites rocketed into orbit Thursday on a quest to explore Earth's treacherous radiation belts and protect the planet from solar outbursts.

NASA launched the science probes before dawn, sending them skyward aboard an unmanned rocket.

"They're now at home in the Van Allen belts where they belong," said Nicola Fox, the deputy project scientist for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

It's the first time two spacecraft are flying in tandem amid the punishing radiation belts of Earth, brimming with highly charged particles capable of wrecking satellites.

These new satellites shielded with thick aluminum are designed to withstand an onslaught of cosmic rays for the next two years.

"We're going to a place that other missions try to avoid and we need to live there for two years. That's one of our biggest challenges," said Richard Fitzgerald, project manager for Johns Hopkins.

Fitzgerald wore a black tuxedo for the big event, "my good-luck tux." It's the same suit he wore for the launch of another set of twin science satellites that still are going strong after 10 years. "I'm hoping for the same" with these Radiation Belt Storm Probes, he said.

The Johns Hopkins lab built the radiation belt probes for NASA, and is operating them from Maryland following a week of launch delays.

AP

Scientists expect the $686 million mission to shed light on how the sun affects the Van Allen radiation belts, named after the astrophysicist who discovered them a half-century ago.

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NASA Launches Twin Satellites