Rosetta Mission Finds That Comets May Not Be The Source Of Earth’s Water – Video


Rosetta Mission Finds That Comets May Not Be The Source Of Earth #39;s Water
Scientists involved with the Rosetta Mission are saying that contrary to popular belief, comets are not the source of water on Earth. The theory that Earth got its water via delivery by a...

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Rosetta Mission Finds That Comets May Not Be The Source Of Earth's Water - Video

Rosetta Spacecraft's Comet Water Discovery: What It Means for Earth

Where did Earth's water come from? Comets? Asteroids?

New data from the Rosetta spacecraft exploring Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko show that comets once thought responsible for seeding Earth with water might not have delivered most of the planet's water after all. The new finding is giving scientists a more nuanced view of the solar system and its plethora of cosmic bodies.

An instrument called ROSINA on the European Space Agency's Rosetta has found that the molecular makeup of the water on Comet 67P/C-G is very different from the water found in Earth's oceans. This deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio throws a hitch into the theory that comets from Comet 67P/C-G's region of space brought water to the Earth not long after the solar system formed, Kathrin Altwegg, principal investigator for ROSINA, said. [See comet images from Rosetta]

If even a small number of comets like 67P/C-G impacted Earth in the early days of the solar system, it still would have greatly changed the molecular composition of the planet's water today, according to Altwegg. Therefore, it seems unlikely that these kinds of comets brought water to Earth. Altwegg thinks it's more probable that asteroids brought water to Earth.

"We knew that Rosetta's in situ analysis of this comet was always going to throw up surprises for the bigger picture of solar system science, and this outstanding observation certainly adds fuel to the debate about the origin of Earths water," Matt Taylor, ESAs Rosetta project scientist, said in a statement.

While asteroids are dry, rocky bodies now, it's possible that these space rocks were water-rich during the early days of the solar system. Altwegg thinks that asteroids may have bombarded the Earth about 800 million years after the formation of the solar system, bringing water to the early planet once it cooled after formation.

Scientists have measured the D to H ratio in meteorites from asteroids and found that the water content in these tiny samples is comparable to Earth's water composition, Altwegg said.

Thanks to Rosetta, scientists now think that Kuiper Belt comets found orbiting the sun beyond Neptune are much more diverse than expected. In other words, not all comets are the same.

Although Comet 67P/C-G has a 6.5-year orbit that brings it near Jupiter, researchers still think that it originated in the Kuiper Belt.

Scientists measured the comet Hartley 2's D to H ratio in 2011 and found that it was very close to that of Earth's, leading scientists to conclude that comets like Hartley 2 (a Kuiper Belt comet) may have delivered water to the early planet. But because the ratio for Comet 67P/C-G is so off, it doesn't seem like the comets from the Kuiper Belt could have seeded the planet with water.

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Rosetta Spacecraft's Comet Water Discovery: What It Means for Earth

Rosetta finds comets carry more 'Star Trek' fuel than expected

Rosetta researchers think comets are less likely to be the source of Earth's water than previously thought, which also makes them a great source of fuel for fictional starship warp cores.

Don't let the Klingon marauders get hold of this gold mine! ESA

Data sent back from Rosetta's observations of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, published this week in the journal Science, suggest that Earth's oceans may have originated from collisions with water-bearing asteroids rather than comets.

CBS News has the full story on those findings, but what's gone unreported so far is the converse discovery that while comets might be a less likely source of our ocean water than previously thought, they contain higher than expected levels of a key component in the fuel for the U.S.S. Enterprise.

I'm talking about deuterium here folks, also known as "heavy hydrogen" -- a stable hydrogen isotope that's found in small amounts in our oceans. The thing is, the water that's hitching a ride on Rosetta's comet has about three times as much deuterium as water here on Earth. So, comet water is different enough from Earth water that it casts a little bit of doubt on to the popular hypothesis that cometary collisions with early Earth "seeded" our planet with the water we all take for granted.

That's the real science that's being debated by smart people right now. But let's get down to the real science fiction implications of this.

In the "Star Trek" universe, starships like the U.S.S. Enterprise-D carry around deuterium in tanks because it's a key component -- along with tritium -- in matter-antimatter reactions that help fling ships between galaxies.

At various points on the different series, we encounter oppressive Klingon marauders that run a deuterium mine, strange and dangerous life forms made up in part of the stuff, and at least one anomalous instance of deuterium scarcity that leads to conflict.

Perhaps we can avoid some of these future science fiction scenarios by starting to mine comets for deuterium right now.Take away the Klingon marauders' leverage while they're still technically just made up characters, I always say. Thanks, science!

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Rosetta finds comets carry more 'Star Trek' fuel than expected

Lennox Dupal, General Manager, Sandals Halcyon St Lucia representing Sandals Grande Antigua – Video


Lennox Dupal, General Manager, Sandals Halcyon St Lucia representing Sandals Grande Antigua
Lennox Dupal, General Manager, Sandals Halcyon Beach Resort Spa, St Lucia representing Sandals Grande Antigua Resort Spa.

By: World Travel Awards

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Lennox Dupal, General Manager, Sandals Halcyon St Lucia representing Sandals Grande Antigua - Video

Fox World Travel Offers 2015 Badger Bowl Vacation Packages

OSHKOSH, WI (PRWEB) December 12, 2014

Fox World Travel has announced that they have customizable travel packages available to see the Wisconsin Badgers play in the 2015 Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida. Fox World Travel has partnered with Funjet Vacations to offer their 25th annual Badger Bowl vacation package.

This years Badger Bowl vacation packages can be customized to include roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations, Outback Bowl game tickets, Badger Huddle pre-game tailgate tickets, rental car, and several optional tours. The Badger Huddle and the Outback Bowl game will both be held on Thursday January 1, 2015. Fox World Travel offers a wide range of customizable packages to cater to the unique interests of their clients. Those interested are encouraged to book early in order to ensure availability.

About Fox World Travel: Fox World Travel was founded in 1960 and is ranked in the top 20 of over 25,000 travel agencies in the United States, according to the Business Travel Survey in Business Travel News. Fox World Travel owns and operates 11 retail travel locations throughout Wisconsin as well as Premier Meetings and Incentives in Oshkosh and Fox World Travel School Online. Visit Fox World Travel online at http://www.GoFox.com.

Corporate Headquarters 2150 S Washburn Street P.O. Box 2386 Oshkosh, WI 54903-2386 Phone: 920-236-8000 Fax:920-236-8050 Website: http://www.gofox.com

Contact:Brian Hurley, Vice President-Vacation Travel Fox World Travel (920) 236-8000 bhurley(at)gofox(dot)com

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Company: Fox World Travel Contact: Brian Hurley Phone: 920-236-8000 Email: bhurley(at)gofox(dot)com

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Fox World Travel Offers 2015 Badger Bowl Vacation Packages

R&B star Usher encourages Columbus students to try computer programming

All week, the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students at Columbus Middle School have been playing Flappy Bird, a simple computer game that combines the addictiveness of Angry Birds with the game play of Super Mario.

Teachers are encouraging this, and other games like it, because the students earned it: They programmed the games.

Their school is one of thousands around the world participating in the second annual Hour of Code. The event is sponsored by Code.org, a nonprofit organization seeking to introduce computer science to K-12 students.

As natives to a digital world, young people grow up with computers, and much of their social lives now play out online. But as with older generations, they are largely unfamiliar with the language that builds the programs because computer science still isnt taught in many schools.

When you get on a social media site, it just comes up, said Meghan Reed, a seventh-grade student.

Columbus, like most districts in Montana, doesnt have the money to offer programming elective classes. But teachers hope the Hour of Code at least exposes students to a skill required for one of the fastest-growing occupations in the United States and may inspire some to learn to program on their own.

Many of the middle school students have taken it up with zeal.

Its easier than you think, when you start doing it, said Garrick Conner, a sixth-grader.

Conner was directing a squirrel on his computer screen to travel along a path to find an acorn, giving instructions so the critter wouldnt fall off.

You sort of keep adding on until you get over here, he said, and thats coding.

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R&B star Usher encourages Columbus students to try computer programming

A computer glitch paralyzes London's Heathrow Airport for hours

A computer problem that shuts down an airport sounds kind of like the start of a terrible action movie. But five airports in the United Kingdomwere effectively shut down for several hours on Friday thanks to computers on the fritz. That includedHeathrow, one of Europe's busiest hubs.

So what happened?Just your basic computer glitch.

Airline security expert Chris Yates was not surprised.I thought, 'Not again,' quite frankly, Yates says.This not the first time this has happened. It happened this time last year. It happened a couple of years ago as well.

The air traffic control system simply isn'tcapable of standing up to thedemands of peak travel periods, according to Yates. And thats no small problem,because allair traffic controlin the UK is computer-driven.

The vast majority of all of the data is handled by this super computer," Yates explains, and "as the air traffic control system has developed, its become ever more complex."

The maintraffic control system, locatedin southern England,monitors all of the air traffic coming to and from a large swath of air space that reaches from theScottish borderdown to the southern tip of the United Kingdom.

That is completely separate from control at London Heathrow or London Gatwick. It is a control center that controls flights once theyve left airports or when theyre on the way to airports,Yates explains.Itnot only handles all of the voice communication between aircraft and controllers, but it also handles the eyes in the sky, if you will the visual display of where all the aircraft are in any given moment.

From PRI's The World 2014 Public Radio International

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A computer glitch paralyzes London's Heathrow Airport for hours

Mechanical cues reprogram normal cell lines into stem-like cells

Scientists at UB and other institutions have turned cells normally used as model cells, known as immortalized cells, into stem or, as they call it, stem-like cells, using nothing more than mechanical stress. They have done it without employing the potentially hazardous techniques previously used to obtain similar results.

The researchers use the term stem-like cells to describe cells in tissue culture that have many of the biochemical markers of stem cells. Determining whether or not they can differentiate will be the focus of future research.

The finding is described in a paper published recently online before print in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers discovered that changing the mechanical stresses on neuronal and other cell types in tissue culture allowed them to be reprogrammed into stem-like cells.

Normal cell types in tissue culture are spread out and have differentiated internal structures, but changing cell mechanics caused the cells to turn into clusters of spherical cells that had many of the biochemical markers of cells, says Frederick Sachs, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and senior author.

The stem cell advance was made possible by the development of a genetically encoded optical probe by Fanje Meng, research assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and lead UB author. The probe measures the mechanical stress in actin, a major structural protein present in all cells. Actin is involved in muscle contraction and numerous cellular processes, including cell signaling, how cells are shaped and how they move.

The actin probes will provide researchers with a method of studying how mechanical forces influence living cells, tissues, organs and animals in real time.

This probe allows us, for the first time, to measure the stress in actin within living cells, explains Sachs. We saw gradients of stress in actin filaments even in single living cells.

Much of existing biomechanics will have to be rethought, since many studies have assumed that the stresses are uniform, Sachs continues. The actin stress probe showed that the tension in actin fibers in stem cells is higher than in normal cells. That was very surprising to us.

He adds that while mechanics are well known to have a role in cellular processes, the details are poorly understood because there have been few ways to measure the stress in specific proteins. A clinically relevant example is that metastatic cancer cells, the fatal variety, have different mechanics than cells of the parent tumor.

This probe will allow cancer researchers to better understand what allows cells to become metastatic, says Sachs.

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Mechanical cues reprogram normal cell lines into stem-like cells

Canadian-led team of researchers shows how stem cells can be reprogrammed

TORONTO A Canadian-led international team of researchers has begun solving the mystery of just how a specialized cell taken from a persons skin is reprogrammed into an embryonic-like stem cell, from which virtually any other cell type in the body can be generated.

The research is being touted as a breakthrough in regenerative medicine that will allow scientists to one day harness stem cells to treat or even cure a host of conditions, from blindness and Parkinsons disease to diabetes and spinal cord injuries.

Besides creating the reprogramming roadmap, the scientists also identified a new type of stem cell, called an F-class stem cell due to its fuzzy appearance. Their work is detailed in five papers published Wednesday in the prestigious journals Nature and Nature Communications.

Dr. Andras Nagy, a senior scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, led the team of 50 researchers from Canada, the Netherlands, South Korea and Australia, which spent four years analyzing and cataloguing the day-by-day process that occurs in stem cell reprogramming.

The work builds on the 2006-2007 papers by Shinya Yamanaka, who showed that adult skin cells could be turned into embryonic-like, or pluripotent, stem cells through genetic manipulation, a discovery that garnered the Japanese scientist the Nobel Prize in 2012.

Nagy likened the roughly 21-day process to complete that transformation to a black box, so called because scientists did not know what went on within the cells as they morphed from one cell type into the other.

It was just like a black box, Nagy said Wednesday, following a briefing at the hospital. You start with a skin cell, you arrive at a stem cell but we had no idea what was happening inside the cell.

Nagys team set about cataloguing the changes as they occurred by removing cells from culture dishes at set points during the three-week period, then analyzing such cellular material as DNA and proteins present at that moment.

The result is a database that will be available to scientists around the world, which the team hopes will spur new research to advance the field of stem cell-based regenerative medicine.

Co-author Ian Rogers, a scientist in Nagys lab, said the database will allow researchers to identify various properties of the developing stem cells, which could mean improving their ability to treat or cure disease.

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Canadian-led team of researchers shows how stem cells can be reprogrammed

Deepak Chopra walks the walk of spirituality

At age 6, Deepak Chopra experienced what he calls "an existential crisis." His grandfather died, and Chopra became frightened when he overheard his uncle remark, "Yesterday he was playing with his grandchildren, and today he is a fistful of ashes." His grandmother tried to comfort him by saying, "Grandfather is with God in heaven." But for Chopra, that day triggered enduring questions about death, heaven and the meaning of life.

Now 67, Chopra is a prolific writer, spiritual guide and a renowned physician who decades ago championed integrative medicine, a melding of mainstream, Western medicine with alternative treatments.

Chopra suggests a new melding, this time of science and faith, in his latest book, "The Future of God: A Practical Approach to Spirituality for Our Times." He also discusses those ideas in a new public television show, "The Future of God."

He advocates daily meditation 20 minutes when you get up and 20 minutes in the afternoon. Chopra recently teamed up with Oprah Winfrey to offer online meditations (try one at lat.ms/1vBcESc).

What is the link between belief and biology?

There is a big link between what you hold to be true and what happens in your biology. [Your belief] changes the activity of your genes away from inflammation in the direction of self-regulation. People who think that, as they age, they grow healthier and wiser, have more endurance and we are showing, unequivocally, that meditation not only slows down the aging process but reverses some of the biology of aging. I personally believe your biological age can be 20 or 30 years younger than your chronological age, if you are physically fit, emotionally mature and not reactive [to people or situations].

What do you do to stay fit?

I walk about five miles [a day], and I do yoga. Once in a while I do weightlifting and strengthening, but I found that yoga achieves the same thing. So lately I've been doing yoga, meditation and I walk. When I'm in New York, I don't take a cab, I walk. If I take the subway, I get off a couple of stations before I'm supposed to get off.

In your new book, "The Future of God," you wrote about a "peak experience." What is it?

Falling in love is a peak experience. Some people have them in sports, ballet, music, poetry, in meditation. Some people have them in a sexual encounter. Peak experiences are the ones we never forget the ones we long for once we've had them. The beauty of the moment is breathtaking, and time stood still. It is also called the "experience of flow" or the "lightness of being." There is not a care in the world. There is a feeling of joy. I start my day with four intentions. The first is joyful, energetic body. The second is loving, compassionate heart. The third is reflective, alert mind. The fourth is lightness of being. I am anticipating a peak experience by setting the intention.

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Deepak Chopra walks the walk of spirituality

When spirituality met business

Speaking about leadership at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Guru HH Radhanath Swami said: "Leadership, business and otherwise, is about understanding that one is not the proprietor of wealth, but merely the caretaker. Leadership entails a position of responsibility, and the most fundamental question that leaders should ask themselves is 'how can I serve?'"

Swami was speaking at a discussion titled 'Spirituality: Leadership and Management' that included business honchos Ajay Piramal and Kishore Biyani. It was moderated by Govind Ethiraj. The focus of the discussion was whether spiritual principles can be applied to the business world, as represented by Piramal and Biyani.

Both businessmen were in agreement that spiritual principles are universal and can be used as beacons for illuminating the complex and intriguing world of business. While Biyani has only recently discovered spirituality, Piramal said that spiritual values can create even economic value giving the example of Mahatma Gandhi's successful career as a lawyer in South Africa.

Swami said that one must earn with integrity and spend with compassion. Among the other things that were discussed, he said: "When spirituality is the basis of one's life, everything one builds on this foundation brings great benefit."

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When spirituality met business