Scince News Assignment

8/14/2019 Scince News Assignment

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Summary

Big Bang particle discovery closer, CERN

scientists say

Researchers at theEuropean Organization for Nuclear Research(CERN) are using their

Large Hadron Collider(LHC), the world's biggest particle accelerator, to try to prove that

the mystery particle, that is responsible for giving mass to the universe, really exists.

The theoretical particle, nicknamed the 'God Particle' due to the central role it has in

explaining modern physics, has never been detected and scientists have been working fordecades to prove its existence. Scientists hope that high energy collisions of particles in

the 17-mile underground tunnel at CERN will finally allow them to create conditions to

allow them to spot the elusive Higgs Boson.

Physicists investigating the make-up of the universe have discovered that the Higgs boson,

an elusive particle which was thought to have been the key to turning debris from theBig

Banginto stars, planets and finally life.

Rolf-Dieter Heuer,director of CERN said "We will know by the end of this year whether

it exists or not. This would be a huge discovery that after 50 years we are able to describe

the visible universe,"

The quest for the vague but scientifically crucialHiggs bosonis being conducted by

harnessing the LHC's high energy accelerator, which is located on the edge of Geneva, to

replicate the Big Bang, the process scientists believe brought the known universe into being.

The Higgs is named after Briton Peter Higgs who in 1964 first came up with a detailed idea

of what it might be and is the last major missing piece in the so-called Standard Model of

how the universe works at the elementary particle level.
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2/23

Venus transits across the Sun

Scientists and astronomers and all astro enthusiasts celebrated the arrival of the transit of Venus,peering up to the skies to watch a dark black spot slide over the surface of the Sun

A rare celestial spectacle --transit of Venus-- the last for this century, unfolded in the morning of

June 5-6, 2012 sky all across the globe. Large projectors, pin hole cameras and telescopes were set

up at various locations across the world to help people see the celestial event unfold.

In India, the awesome spectacle was visible all over the country, includingthe nationalcapital.

However, a cloudy sky restricted its visibility from Delhi and some other parts of northern India.

"The next Venus transit will happen after 105.5 years in 2117, making this a lifetime's event,"

Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) director C BDevgun said.

From theEarth,this phenomenon is seen when the Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth. It

occurs in intervals of 8, 121, 8 and 105 years. The phenomenon should be seen only through

solar filters, special solar glasses or with the help of pin hole cameras.The last transit of Venus

occurred on June 8, 2004 and was visible across India.

Sriharikota PSLV launch

PSLV-C19 puts RISAT-1 in orbit

The nation celebrated launch of PSLV-C19, carrying the RISAT-1 satellite from the Satish

Dhawan Space Centre i spaceport of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in

Sriharikota, near Chenna at 05:47 hrs (IST) on Thursday, April 26, 2012

It is India's first indigenously built all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite, RISAT-1, with

applications ranging from agriculture to natural disaster management, is now in polar orbit

after its carrier, the PSLV-C19, was launched with clinical precision from the Sriharikota.

RISAT-1, weighing 1,858 kg and the heaviest satellite launched yet by the PSLV, is a state-

of-the-art Active Microwave Remote Sensing Satellite carrying a Synthetic Aperture Radar

(SAR) that will operate in the C-band.

In simpler terms, the RISAT-1 can beam back imaging of the earth surface features at day

and night and under all imagined weather conditions. SAR, which gives the RISAT-1 its

magical roving eyes, also makes it superior to the generation of optical remote sensingsatellites in clearer imaging at all times and under any condition.
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Terming the PSLV-C19 launch a grand success, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said

the RISAT-1 was precisely injected into an orbit in an altitudinal range of about 480 km. In

the next three days, it would be raised to a 536-km polar orbit. After the satellite was placed

in orbit, solar panels and SAR antenna were successfully deployed. This antenna would

shortly be pointed at the earth, and by May 1, imaging operations were expected to be

launched, he said.

According to ISRO scientists, once its on-board propulsion system raised the orbital altitude

to 536 km, the satellite will begin its daily routine of 14 orbits with a repetitive cycle of 25

days. During its mission life of five years, the RISAT-1 will use its active microwave remote

sensing capability for cloud penetration and day-night imaging of the earth surface and

provide critical data inputs for a range of agricultural and soil moisture studies and forestry

applications. Among the many tasks the RISAT-1 can perform are paddy monitoring in kharif

season, crop estimation and mapping of forestry biomass, besides providing the big picture

on natural disasters such as flood and cyclone.

In the early hours of Thursday, the mission command centre at the ISRO's Satish DhawanSpace Centre here went through the customarily tense countdown leading to the lift-off. At

precisely 5.47 a.m., the launch vehicle's core stage and a set of six strap-on motors ignited

within seconds to signal the successful lift-off of the PSLV-C19, with the satellite firmly

docked in its metal frames.

Jubilant scenes erupted at the mission command centre once the PSLV-C19 executed with

programmed precision each of the four stages of ignition and separation in a flight of 18

minutes, and in one final push injected the RISAT-1 into orbit with an altitude of about 480

km.

Prof. Yashpal and Prof. U.R. Rao, two of the doyens of India's space programme, were

present to partake of the celebrations of what they described as a landmark event.

The approved cost of the mission was Rs. 488 crorethe assembling of the satellite

involved Rs. 378 crore and the rocket Rs.110 crore.

The PSLV C-19 is the 21st flight in the PSLV series of satellite launches, the 20th

consecutive successful launch and the third to involve the high-end version (PSLV-XL)

equipped with six extended strap-on motors, each carrying 12 tonnes of solid propellant. The

two earlier flights of the PSLV-XL were used to launch Chandrayaan-1 and the GSAT-12

communication satellite.

.

This is the first time we are going to launch a microwave remote-sensing satellite

into the orbit carrying a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Dr. P.S. Veeraraghavan,director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), told DC here.


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PSLV-C19 will be carrying Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1), a microwaveremote-sensing satellite weighing around 1,850 kg.

Veeraraghavan said PSLV- C19 will be launched into a 536 km orbit with 25 daysrepetitivity with an added advantage of 12 days inner cycle for receiving images

on scan mode. Veeraraghavan is known for his contributions to the launch vehicletechnology, specially in the areas of integration and checkout of Indian SpaceResearch Organisations (ISRO) launch vehicles.

The outstanding feature of PSLV C19 is that it can provide images of the Earthfor all 24 hours in all weather conditions. Previous satellites could not provideoptical images in cloudy conditions. When launched, this would be the heaviestsatellite so far. Around 3,000 people from different centres of VSSC, ISRO andNational Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) are working for the successful launch.

Dr. V. Adimurthy, Dean of Indian Institute of Space, Science and Technology in

Valiyamala said, Whenever theres a launch, we keep documenting all theprocedures, and do repeated safety checks.

Both Dr. Adimurthy and Dr. Veeraraghavan were on their way to Sriharikotta tocelebrate the victory of Agni-V launch.

1.Times of India

Big Bang particle discovery closer, CERN

scientists sayThe writer has posted comments on this articleReuters |Jun 12, 2012, 09.08PM IST


5/23

Strong signs of the Higgs boson were being seen in the same energy range where it was tentatively spotted last year.

GENEVA: Physicists investigating the make-up of the universe are closing in on the

Higgs boson, an elusive particle thought to have been key to turning debris from theBig

Banginto stars, planets and finally life, scientists said on Tuesday.

Researchers at theEuropean Organization for Nuclear Research(CERN) are using their

Large Hadron Collider(LHC), the world's biggest particle accelerator, to try to prove that

the mystery particle really exists.

Poring over huge volumes of data,CERNphysicists are confident they are now closer to

achieving that aim, outside scientists with links to two key research teams at the

Switzerland-based facility said.

"They are getting quite fired up," one scientist outside CERN but with links to the

experiment who declined to be named told Reuters.

Strong signs of the Higgs were being seen in the same energy range where it was

tentatively spotted last year, the scientists added, even though the particle is so short-lived

that it can only be detected by the traces it leaves.

The quest for the obscure but scientifically crucialHiggs bosonis being conducted by

harnessing the LHC's high energy accelerator, which is located on the edge of Geneva, to

replicate the Big Bang, the process scientists believe brought the known universe into

being.

The Higgs is named after Briton Peter Higgs who in 1964 first came up with a detailedidea of what it might be and is the last major missing piece in the so-called Standard

Model of how the universe works at the elementary particle level.

Its formal discovery, once it is endorsed by the world scientific community, would almost

certainly ensure aNobel prizefor Higgs, now 83 and retired, and perhaps for at least one

other European physicist and one American.

SPECULATION

The scientists spoke of their CERN colleagues' progress after research chiefs at the Swiss

facility decreed a cut-off last weekend in the processing of all data related to the search for
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the particle ahead of a major physics conference, ICHEP, in Melbourne in mid-July.

There has been widespread speculation that a major announcement on the Higgs, based on

careful analysis of the most interesting of over 300 trillion proton collisions in theLHCso

far this year, may be made at that gathering.

But there was no confirmation from CERN itself that it was close to formally announcing

it had discovered the particle and its linked energy field, thought to have given mass to

matter and shape to the universe 13.7 billion years ago.

Researchers on the collider's separate ATLAS and CMS detectors have been "blinded" - or

cut off from findings from the rival team and even from different groups inside their own.

CERN spokesman James Gillies said the centre would want to make any important

announcement, once there was something to say, in Geneva.

"As for what ATLAS and CMS may or may not have in the 2012 data, that's only knownto a few people in each experiment right now," he added.

"Blinding" is used in science to ensure that different groups working on identical

experiments but with different if similar equipment do not influence the outcome of each

other's research.

If they then come to the same conclusion, they can safely be seen to have independently

validated each other's results, clearing the way to actually claiming a discovery.

In December 2011, after some 16 months of collisions at lower energy levels than this

year, both teams joined at CERN to say they had separately seen "tantalising glimpses" of

the Higgs but needed more time to be sure if it was really there.

Data still coming in after last weekend's analysis cut-off will be processed later in the

summer. Physicists say that more than half of the collisions produce nothing of scientific

value and the record of their tracks are automatically dumped.

'Will find God particle by year-end '

LONDON: Scientists say they may be able to prove by the end of the year that the elusive Higgs

Boson, or the particle that is responsible for giving mass to the universe, really exists.

TheLarge Hadron Collider(LHC), the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, will

be switched off at the end of this year for some major upgrades, butRolf-Dieter Heuer,director of

European Organization for Nuclear Research(Cern), said he was very confident that by that timeit will be possible to say whether theHiggs Bosonexists.
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The theoretical particle, nicknamed the 'God Particle' due to the central role it has in explaining

modern physics, has never been detected and scientists have been working for decades to prove its

existence . Scientists hope that high energy collisions of particles in the 17-mile underground

tunnel at Cern will finally allow them to create conditions to allow them to spot the elusive Higgs

Boson.

Heuer said the LHC is scheduled to be closed down for up to two years to carry out upgrades that

will increase its power and allow it to continue with more experiments.

"We will know by the end of this year whether it exists or not. This would be a huge discovery

that after 50 years we are able to describe the visible universe," he was quoted as saying by the

Daily Telegraph. "We will have taken a big step forward about our knowledge of the physical

worldIt will help us to understand the creation of theuniverse," he added.

Heuer also informed that for the first time the LHC will be opened to the public, who will be

allowed to walk through the underground tunnel that straddles the French-Swiss border.

2.Venus transits across the Sun

The writer has posted comments on this articlePTI |Jun 6, 2012, 09.26AM IST

Read more:Venus transits across Sun|Venus|Transit of Venus|The National|Planetary Society
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Century's last look at Venus transit

NEW DELHI: A rare celestial spectacle --transit of Venus-- the last for this century, unfolded in

the morning sky all across the country on Wednesday, enthralling the astro enthusiasts.

Scientists and amateur astronomers alike celebrated the arrival of the transit of Venus, peering up

to the skies to watch a dark black spot slide over the surface of the Sun.

The awesome spectacle was visible all over the country, includingthe nationalcapital. However, a

cloudy sky restricted its visibility from Delhi and some other parts of northern India.

"This was the century's lastVenustransit," Nehru Planetarium director N Rathnasree said.

The event was visible at around 7am, she said. Large projectors, pin hole cameras and telescopes

were set up to help people see the celestial event unfold at the planetarium, where a large numberof people had gathered to see the rare event.

"It is exciting to see such an event," said a Class X student Soumaya.

"It is too good to resist. It is awesome," Nisha Gupta, a school teacher said, who had earlier seen

the 2004 spectacle also.

"The next Venus transit will happen after 105.5 years in 2117, making this a lifetime's event,"

Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) director C B

Devgun said.

From theEarth,this phenomenon is seen when the Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth. It

occurs in intervals of 8, 121, 8 and 105 years, Devgun said.

"The phenomenon should be seen only through solar filters, special solar glasses or with the help

of pin hole cameras," secretary ofPlanetary Societyof India N Sri Raghunandan Kumar said.

The last transit of Venus occurred on June 8, 2004 and was visible across India.
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ISRO

April 23, 2012PRINT THI

Countdown Commences for the Launch of PSLV-C19 Carrying India's First Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1)

The Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) for Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C19)/Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1)

mission, which met on April 21, 2012 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota has cleared the launch of

PSLV-C19/RISAT-1 mission at 05:47 hrs (IST) on Thursday, April 26, 2012.

The 71-hour countdown commenced at 06:47 hours today (April 23, 2012). During the Countdown, propellant-filling

operations of the liquid propellant second stage (PS2) and fourth stage (PS4) of the launch vehicle will be carried out.

Besides, mandatory checks on the launch vehicle and spacecraft will be carried out. Also, charging of batteries and

pressurisation of propellant tanks onboard the satellite will be performed. Readiness of various ground systems such as

tracking radar systems and communication networks will also be checked.

PSLV-C19 will inject RISAT-1 satellite into an orbit of 480 km altitude at an inclination of 97.552 o. The satellite will be put

n its final orbital configuration at 536 km altitude using thrusters onboard the satellite.

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3.PSLV-C19 puts RISAT-1 in orbit
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10/23

The Hindu ISRO's launch vehicle PSLV-C19, carrying the RISAT-1 satellite, lifts off from the

Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, near Chennai on Thursday. Photo: K. Pichumani

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PM congratulates scientistsIt can spy and also do a hundred humdrum thingsRISAT-1's radar can

see through clouds and work in darknessISRO's grand success
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11/23

MEDIA

RISAT-1

TOPICS

science and technologyscientific exploration

scientific institutions

technology (general)rocketry

India's first indigenously built all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite, RISAT-1, with

applications ranging from agriculture to natural disaster management, is now in polar orbit

after its carrier, the PSLV-C19, was launched with clinical precision from the Sriharikota

spaceport of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday.

Clickhereto download the PDF version of the RISAT-1 graphic

RISAT-1, weighing 1,858 kg and the heaviest satellite launched yet by the PSLV, is a state-

of-the-art Active Microwave Remote Sensing Satellite carrying a Synthetic Aperture Radar

(SAR) that will operate in the C-band.

In simpler terms, the RISAT-1 can beam back imaging of the earth surface features at day

and night and under all imagined weather conditions. SAR, which gives the RISAT-1 its

magical roving eyes, also makes it superior to the generation of optical remote sensing

satellites in clearer imaging at all times and under any condition.

Terming the PSLV-C19 launch a grand success, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan saidthe RISAT-1 was precisely injected into an orbit in an altitudinal range of about 480 km. In

the next three days, it would be raised to a 536-km polar orbit. After the satellite was placed

in orbit, solar panels and SAR antenna were successfully deployed. This antenna would

shortly be pointed at the earth, and by May 1, imaging operations were expected to be

launched, he said.

According to ISRO scientists, once its on-board propulsion system raised the orbital altitude

to 536 km, the satellite will begin its daily routine of 14 orbits with a repetitive cycle of 25

days. During its mission life of five years, the RISAT-1 will use its active microwave remote

sensing capability for cloud penetration and day-night imaging of the earth surface and

provide critical data inputs for a range of agricultural and soil moisture studies and forestryapplications. Among the many tasks the RISAT-1 can perform are paddy monitoring in kharif

season, crop estimation and mapping of forestry biomass, besides providing the big picture

on natural disasters such as flood and cyclone.

In the early hours of Thursday, the mission command centre at the ISRO's Satish Dhawan

Space Centre here went through the customarily tense countdown leading to the lift-off. At

precisely 5.47 a.m., the launch vehicle's core stage and a set of six strap-on motors ignited

within seconds to signal the successful lift-off of the PSLV-C19, with the satellite firmly

docked in its metal frames.

Jubilant scenes erupted at the mission command centre once the PSLV-C19 executed withprogrammed precision each of the four stages of ignition and separation in a flight of 18
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minutes, and in one final push injected the RISAT-1 into orbit with an altitude of about 480

km.

Prof. Yashpal and Prof. U.R. Rao, two of the doyens of India's space programme, were

present to partake of the celebrations of what they described as a landmark event.

The approved cost of the mission was Rs. 488 crorethe assembling of the satellite

involved Rs. 378 crore and the rocket Rs.110 crore.

The PSLV C-19 is the 21st flight in the PSLV series of satellite launches, the 20th

consecutive successful launch and the third to involve the high-end version (PSLV-XL)

equipped with six extended strap-on motors, each carrying 12 tonnes of solid propellant. The

two earlier flights of the PSLV-XL were used to launch Chandrayaan-1 and the GSAT-12

communication satellite.

Keywords:PSLV-C19, RISAT-1, ISRO, PSLV, RISAT, Radhakrishnan, radar imaging

satellite, Synthetic Aperture Radar, Active Microwave Remote Sensing Satellite

As the nation is celebrating its Agni-V launch, the Space scientists in Kerala are looking forward to repeat thenations success on April 26, when PSLV- C19 satellite will be launched from Sriharikota.

This is the first time we are going to launch a microwave remote-sensing satellite into the orbit carrying a

synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Dr. P.S. Veeraraghavan, director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), toldDC here.

PSLV-C19 will be carrying Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1), a microwave remote-sensing satellite weighingaround 1,850 kg.

Veeraraghavan said PSLV- C19 will be launched into a 536 km orbit with 25 days repetitivity with an addedadvantage of 12 days inner cycle for receiving images on scan mode. Veeraraghavan is known for hiscontributions to the launch vehicle technology, specially in the areas of integration and checkout of Indian SpaceResearch Organisations (ISRO) launch vehicles.

The outstanding feature of PSLVC19 is that it can provide images of the Earth for all 24 hours in all weatherconditions. Previous satellites could not provide optical images in cloudy conditions. When launched, this would

be the heaviest satellite so far. Around 3,000 people from different centres of VSSC, ISRO and National RemoteSensing Centre (NRSC) are working for the successful launch.
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Dr. V. Adimurthy, Dean of Indian Institute of Space, Science and Technology in Valiyamala said, Whenevertheres a launch, we keep documenting all the procedures, and do repeated safety checks.

Both Dr. Adimurthy and Dr. Veeraraghavan were on their way to Sriharikotta to celebrate the victory of Agni -Vlaunch.

4.Vein made from own stem cells saves girl

Team Led By Indian-Origin Researcher Raises Hopes For Bypass, Dialysis

Patients

London: For the first time, scientists led by an Indian-origin researcher have successfullyreplaced a major blood vessel in a 10-year-old girl with a vein grown in a lab using herown stem cells.

The pioneering transplant, published in The Lancet, marks a further advance ingrowing body parts in laboratory and offers hopes for patients who lack suitable veins fordialysis or bypass surgery. In the landmark research, a team from the University ofGothenburg in Sweden took a vein from a dead man, stripped of its own cells and thenbathed in stem cells from the girl, who was suffering from portal vein obstruction.

There was a striking improvement in her quality of life after the transplantation,

professor Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson, who led the research, said.The hepatic portal vein drains the blood from the intestines and spleen to the liver.

The blockage can cause serious complications like lethal variceal bleeding, enlargedspleen, developmental retardation, and even death. To date, attempts to restore portalblood flow using umbilical veins and artificial grafts to build a bridge around the blockage(called meso Rex bypass) have had mixed success.

The Swedish team took a 9cm segment of iliac (groin) vein from the dead donor andremoved all living cells, leaving a tube consisting of just the protein scaffolding. Thisscaffolding was injected with stem cells obtained from the girls bone marrow. Twoweeks after seeding, the graft was re-implanted during a meso Rex bypass procedure.

The girl had no complications from the operation and normal blood flow wasimmediately restored. In the year after the operation she gained good height and

weight. But a year after the procedure, decreased portal blood flow was noted and anarrowing of the graft required a second stem cell-based graft to be done. Since, shehas remained well and can walk long distances. She has not developed anti-donorantibodies despite not taking immunosuppressive drugs. PTI


14/23

June 9, 2012 TOILab-made organ raises hope for livertransplant

Japanese researchers have created a functioning human liver from stemcells, a report

said on Friday, raising hopes for the manufacture of artificial organs for those in need oftransplants.

A team of scientists transplanted induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into thebody of a mouse, where it grew into a small, but working, human liver, the YomiuriShimbun said.

Stemcells are frequently harvested from embryos, which are then discarded, a practicesome people find morally objectionable. But iPS cells which have the potential todevelop into any body tissue can be taken from adults.

A team led by professor Hideki Taniguchi at Yokohama City University developedhuman iPS cells into precursor cells, which they then transplanted into a mouses headto take advantage of increased blood flow.

The cells grew into a human liver 5 millimetres in size that was capable of generatinghuman proteins and breaking down drugs, the Yomiuri reported.The breakthrough opens the door to the artificial creation of human organs, a key

battleground for doctors who constantly face a shortage of transplant donors.Taniguchis research could be an important bridge between basic research and clinical

application but faces various challenges before it can be put into medical practice, theYomiuri said.

An abstract of Taniguchis research was delivered to regenerative medicine researchersahead of an academic conference next week, but Taniguchi declined to comment beforethe meeting. Two separate teams, one from the United States and one from Japan,discovered iPS cells in 2006. AFP

Tweaked cells to fight Alzheimers?


15/23

Scientists have for the first time transformed skin cellswith a single genetic factorinto cells that develop on their own into an interconnected, functional network of braincells. The breakthrough research offers new hope in the fight against many neurologicalconditions because scientists expect that such a transformationor reprogrammingofcells may lead to better models for testing drugs for devastating neurodegenerativeconditions such as Alzheimers disease. This research comes at a time of renewed focus

on Alzheimers, which currently afflicts 5.4 million in US alone. ANI

TOI June 9,2012

DEEP WORLD

Life thriving 3 feet beneath Arctic ice

Washington: As they punched through threefoot thick Arctic ice, a Nasa-sponsoredexpedition has found waters richer in microscopic marine plants, essential to all sea life,than any other ocean region on Earth.

The finding reveals a new consequence of the Arctics warming climate and providesan important clue to understanding the impacts of a changing climate and environmenton the Arctic Ocean and its ecology. The discovery was made during a Nasaoceanographic expedition in the summers of 2010 and 2011.

The expedition called ICESCAPE explored Arctic waters in the Beaufort and Chukchiseas along Alaskas western and northern coasts onboard a US Coast Guard icebreaker.Using optical technologies, scientists looked at the impacts of environmental variabilityand change in the Arctic on the ocean biology, ecology and biogeochemistry.Part of Nasas mission is pioneering scientific discovery, and this is like finding the

Amazon rainforest in the middle of the Mojave Desert, said Paula Bontempi, Nasasocean biology and biogeochemistry program manager in Washington. We embarked onICESCAPE to validate our satellite ocean-observing data in an area of the Earth that isvery difficult to get to, Bontempi said. The microscopic plants, called phytoplankton, arethe base of the marine food chain. Phytoplankton were thought to grow in the ArcticOcean only after sea ice had retreated for the summer. Scientists now think that thethinning Arctic ice is allowing sunlight to reach the waters under the sea ice, catalyzingthe plant blooms where they had never been observed. ANI


16/23

A STORY THAT BEGAN 300 MILLION YEARS AGO?

Humans evolved from primitive sharks

London: In a significant development in evolutionary studies, scientists have found that

human beings evolved from a prehistoric shark which existed more than 300 millionyears ago.

According to a new research, primitive fish named Acanthodes bronni was the commonancestor of all jawed vertebrates on Earth including humans.

A re-analysis of the fish braincase dating back to 290 million years shows it was anearly member of the modern gnathostomes (jaw bearing animals) that include a range ofvertebrates from fishes, birds, reptiles, mammals and humans, the Daily Mail reported.

Acanthodes, a Greek word for spiny, existed before the split between the earliestsharks and the first bony fishes the lineage that would eventually include humanbeings and its fossils have been found in Europe, North America and Australia.

As compared to the other spiny sharks Acanthodes was relatively large, measuring afoot long. It had gills instead of teeth, large eyes and lived on plankton.

Unexpectedly, Acanthodes turns out to be the best view we have of conditions in thelast common ancestor of bony fishes and sharks, professor Michael Coates, a biologistat the University of Chicago, said.Our work is telling us the earliest bony fishes looked pretty much like sharks, and not

vice versa. What we might think of as shark space is, in fact, general modern jawedvertebrate space, Coates said.

Cartilaginous fish, which today include sharks, rays, and ratfish, diverged from thebony fishes more than 420 million years ago. But little is known about what the lastcommon ancestor of humans, manta rays and great white sharks looked like. Theacanthodians died out about 250 million years ago and generally left behind only tinyscales and elaborate suits of fin spines.They are much better than scales, teeth or fin spines, which, on their own, tend to

deliver a confusing signal of evolutionary relationships, Coates said. PTI


17/23

5.Waste Water + Bacteria = CleanEnergy

by Sid Perkins on 20 September 2011, 2:44 PM |2 Comments

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PREVIOUS ARTICLENEXT ARTICLE

ENLARGE IMAGE

Bacterial gas.Using a prototype system that uses only fresh water (bottle, left), salt water (right), and a chamber wherecertain types of energy-generating bacteria feed on nutrients (foreground), scientists have produced hydrogen gas (collectedin chamber at arrow) without using any external sources of energy.

Credit: Y. Kim and B. E. Logan/PSU

For the first time, researchers have sustainably produced hydrogen gas, a potential source of clean

energy, using only water and bacteria. The challenge now, scientists say, is to scale up the process to

provide large amounts of hydrogen for various purposes, such as fueling vehicles or small generators.
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Hydrogen may be the ultimate clean fuel because burning itin chemical terms, reacting it with oxygen

yields only water vapor. Previously, researchers have produced hydrogen gas inmicrobial-powered,

batterylike fuel cells,but only when they supplemented the energy produced by the bacteria with electrical

energy from external sourcessuch as that obtained from renewable sources or burning fossil fuels, says

Bruce Logan, an environmental engineer at Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Also, by using

devices that contain large stretches of permeable membranes that separate salt water from fresh,

scientists have tapped the voltage difference that exists between them. But those devices create only a

voltage difference; they don't generate the electrical current required to produce hydrogen, Logan notes.

Hydrogen atoms are formed in such devices only when electrons flow into a fluid where they can combine

with hydrogen ions; those atoms in turn combine with each other to create hydrogen gas.

Now, Logan and Penn State environmental engineer Younggy Kim report online this week in the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesthat they've done something no other team has: They've

successfully combined the two types of devices to generate hydrogen without any external sources of

energy whatsoever. The prototype device contains two small chambersone holding the bacteria and their

nutrients, the other holding salty water where the hydrogen was producedthat are separated by five

stacked cells through which the researchers circulated fresh water and salt water. Together, these stacked

cells generated between 0.5 and 0.6 voltsenough, the researchers say, to enable hydrogen production in

the microbial fuel cell, in which bacteria feed on acetate compounds.

A Weekly Chat on the Hottest Topics in Science Thursdays 3 p.m. EDT

For each 30 milliliters of sodium acetate solution provided for the bacteria, the device generated between

21 and 26 milliliters of hydrogen gas over the course of a day. Admittedly, this is a small volume, about four

times the amount of fuel in a disposable lighter, but it's enough to prove that the hydrogen-generating

concept works in the lab, the researchers contend. Although the equipment needed to produce the

hydrogen is expensive, the device needs no external source of energyand therefore no greenhouse

gases are generated during the process.

The team's device "is elegantly simple, and their test results are well-explained and unambiguous," says

Leonard Tender, a chemist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. One of the

challenges to scaling up the process, he notes, will be developing new materials for fuel cell membranes

that won't quickly become clogged with the chemical byproducts of bacterial activity, which would cut down

on the flow of ions that help maintain the voltage difference across the membranes. Once such hurdles are

crossed, however, the process offers the intriguing possibility of using the organic matter in wastewater to

generate energy, he notes.
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But Csar Torres, a chemical engineer at Arizona State University, Tempe, suggests that the new

technology isn't quite ready for full-scale production of hydrogen. "This is a simple process, but the

chemistry and the components are complicated," he says. "The technology needed to design and

manufacture materials needed to produce efficient, nonclogging membranes is quickly evolving, but there's

still a lot of research to be done."

Another challenge to scaling up will be "keeping the bacteria happy," he notes. The key, he suggests, will

be extracting much but not all the energy produced by the bacteria. Trying to use all of the energy

produced by bacterial metabolism wouldn't leave enough for the microbes to grow, reproduce, and thrive.

FOR KIDS: DNA takes notes

Engineers develop a computer memory system based on living cells

Text Size


20/23

Enlarge

DNA, a tightly coiled molecule found in almost every living cell, may be used as a memory

device.National Human Genome Research Institute

Every electronic gadget needs a good memory. A music player saves songs, albums and playlists.

A computer holds schoolwork and programs and remembers how far a player advanced in her

favorite game. Mobile phones recall names, numbers and hundreds of texts.

Now, scientists in California say theyve come up with a way to turn a living cell into a memory

device.

DNA takes notes

DNA, a tightly coiled molecule found in almost every living cell, may be used as a memory device. Credit: National Human

Genome Research Institute

Every electronic gadget needs a good memory. A music player saves songs, albums and playlists. A

computer holds schoolwork and programs and remembers how far a player advanced in her

favorite game. Mobile phones recall names, numbers and hundreds of texts.

Now, scientists in California say theyve come up with a way to turn a living cell into a memory device.

It can store only a tiny bit of information, but its a start. In the future, a cell-based gadget might travel

through the body and record measurements. The benefit to human health could be big: The right tool,

for example, might record the earliest signs of disease.
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Doctors, scientists and other curious people want to know whats happening inside the body, even at

levels invisible to the naked eye. So far, theres no device small enough to travel through the

bloodstream. (And, unlike the characters in the 1966 sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage, we dont have a

ray that can shrink a submarine small enough to cruise through the body.)

If normal machines wont do the trick, perhaps biology will. Scientists who workin the field of synthetic

biology try to find ways to turn living things into human tools. In the case of the new memory device,

bioengineers from Stanford University used the genetic material inside living cells to record

information.

Resembling a jumble of thread, this genetic material consists of a long and coiled molecule called

DNA. Found in nearly every cell, DNA carries all of the information that keeps a living thing alive.

In the new experiment, the researchers turned DNA from bacteria into a switch. They used an

enzyme, or a substance that makes things happen inside a cell, to flip a small section of DNA so that

it was backward. Then, using the same procedure, the scientists flipped the section again returning

it to its normal structure.

This idea is similar to how computers work. Computer memory depends on billions of tiny electrical

switches, usually made from silicon, that are either on or off. The flipped or unflipped state of

the DNA-based memory device would be similar to the silicons switches being on or off.

Using these DNA switches, We can write and erase DNA in a living cell, bioengineer Jerome Bonnet

explained to Science News

It might take years before his team or others identify whether a DNA-based memory device might be

practical. Right now, it takes one hour to finish a flip. Thats way too long to be useful. Plus, one

flipped section holds very little memory less than what a computer uses to remember a single

letter.

This was an important proof of concept that it was doable, Bonnet told Science News. Now we want

to build a more complex system, something other people can use.

Power Words

synthetic biology An area of science that focuses on developing new and useful tools from living

materials, or using synthetic materials to build things that behave like living organisms.

silicon A nonmetal chemical element used in making electronic circuits.

cell The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism, typically too small to see with human

eyes.

nucleus A part of a cell that contains the genetic material.

chromosome A threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most livingcells, carrying genetic information in the form of DNA.


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Throw water into a hot pan, and it will sizzle so fast that the drops actually levitate across the

surface. Physicists have now taken this phenomenon, called the Leidenfrost effect, a step further:

Using magnets, the scientists directed droplets of liquid oxygen to speed up, slow down andchange course as they scoot across a sheet of glass.

Magnetic fields force the tiny blobs to travel in a mesmerizing dance, says David Qur, a physicist

at ESPCI Paris Institute of Technology in France. He and his colleagues describe the work in an

upcoming Physical Review E.

Leidenfrost drops form when a drop hits a surface much hotter than the liquids boiling

temperature. The liquid evaporates so quickly that the droplet starts to float on its own vapor,

cushioned from below. This insulating layer also reduces friction between the droplet and the

surface. Given a push, a droplet 1 millimeter across can slide for several meters before finally

slowing down and stopping.

There are some interesting questions about these frictionless systems, Qur says. So he

decided to look at how magnetic fields might influence this bizarre motion. He chose to study

oxygen because it boils at such a low temperature that it naturally forms Leidenfrost drops at

room temperature. In its liquid form, oxygen is also paramagnetic, meaning that it is attracted to

the poles of a magnet.

The scientists threw oxygen droplets onto a sheet of glass, beneath which lay a small circular

magnet. Depending on the angle at which the drop approached the magnet, the drop either got

deflected away or swooped partway around the magnet like a comet swinging past Jupiter.

Occasionally, the magnets field captured a droplet into a permanent orbit. You can hang these

drops on the ceiling if the magnet is strong enough, Qur says.

Friction between the drops and the surface changes as the droplets change shape, he adds

allowing scientists to better explore the forces that control friction.

The Leidenfrost effect occurs in many industrial processes that involve liquid droplets and hot

surfaces, and so physicists have long wanted to better understand and control it, says Tuan Tran,

a physicist at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. In 2006, scientists reported using a

textured surface to dictate the way drops moved. The new work using magnets, Tran says, could

be seen as a second cornerstone in controlling Leidenfrost droplets.

The team is now investigating how water drops containing magnetic-sensitive particles behave in

the same situation, which may open the door to more practical applications.

An oxygen droplet floating on its vapor (approaching from left at 12 centimeters per second) can

be deflected by a small magnet (moving from bottom center at 7 centimeters per second) held


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beneath a sheet of glass. Such movies reveal the elusive behavior of droplets subject to whats

known as the Leidenfrost effect.

Credit: K. Piroird et al/Physical Review E 2012

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