Get A Degree In The Search For ET

If you believe in UFOs, extraterrestrial life and the search for intelligence beyond earth, then you’re an ideal candidate for a degree in "Astrobiology.” The University of Glamorgan in Wales is offering what is believed to be Great Britain’s first degree in the search for extraterrestrial life. Six students have already signed up for the program, which entails attending courses in "Exploring the Sky," "Vertebrate Zoology," "Science and the Media," and "Life in the Universe," the university said. Astrophysicist Rhodri Evans told the BBC, "There is a crisis of the number of people staying in science. We think astrobiology can be used to get people excited about science.” To that end, the university will be making a tour of schools in South Wales to get students interested in not only astrobiology but science in general. The three-year degree, sponsored by the school’s Centre for Astronomy and Science Education, will study hard scientific data such as the possibility of finding organic life on Saturn’s moon Titan as well as popular films like Steven Spielberg’s "ET” and "War of the Worlds,” "K-Pax” and, one would presume, others like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and "Starman.” Course leader Professor Mark Brake told Agence France Presse, "Peoples' interest in quite serious and scientific sober issues is often sparked by popular culture." Dr. Evans said, "Science fiction is one of the main areas where the whole issue of life beyond the earth - either going and finding that life or that life coming to earth - is discussed. She added that, for example, "The wonderful book and film 'Contact,' which was written by Carl Sagan, who was a world-famous astrophysicist, contains a lot of very important science in it, even though it is a fictitious story." No word on whether students will get to view the new, highly anticipated "Star Wars” boxed set.

Huge Quake Cracks Star

Astronomers have found the first evidence of cracks in a neutron star's crust. The star cracked when it was rocked by the strongest "starquake" ever recorded, researchers said last week. Last December, astronomers worldwide monitored the explosion that caused this starquake. The eruption was huge – in the first 200 milliseconds of the event the star released energy equivalent to what our Sun produces in 250,000 years. It was the brightest explosion ever detected outside of the Milky Way. Now scientists have used a collection of data from various satellites to provide the first observational evidence that the blast caused the star to form cracks several miles long. Scientists hope these cracks will provide a window into the mysterious interiors of neutron stars. There are millions of neutron stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone, and some of these have magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than Earth's, the strongest of which are called magnetars. This particular magnetar – SGR 1806-20 – is surrounded by the strongest magnetic field known in the universe. This could explain why the starquake – caused when the magnetar's crust could no longer contain the magnetic stress building in the star's interior – was so intense. A magnetar's interior is a dense, liquid-like mix of neutrons, protons, and electrons – making it a terrific conductor of electricity. Because it has the characteristics of a fluid, it moves around a lot. The magnetar's magnetic field loops around the star, and all this movement in the interior messes with the field's shape, winding it up like you might do with a rubber band. But the magnetar's exterior crust is not so pliable. The crust is made mostly of iron. The magnetic field passes through it in places, which isn't a problem for normal neutron stars. But in magnetars, the field interacts with the core and shifts around erratically, causing crustal stress. Eventually, the stress reaches the point where the crust cracks. "Imagine threading a rubber band between two cards, and then twisting the middle," study leader Steve Schwartz of the Imperial College of London told SPACE.com. "All those twisting stresses accumulate at the points where the rubber band threads through the card to the outside. Keep twisting long enough and you will rip the card." The first crack to form was three miles (five kilometers long) – significant since this magnetar is only six miles (10 kilometers) in diameter. Radiation spewed from this crack, causing a steep initial increase in detectable radiation. But that was just the beginning. Radiation continued to spill out of the star, but at a much slower rate than the initial burst. This suggests that "Whether this is a set of long, [three mile] cracks, or a multitude of much smaller ones isn't obvious to me," Schwartz said. "My hunch is therefore: one big one, followed by lots and lots of ongoing smaller ones." What this means for SGR 1806-20 isn't clear, but it seems that cracks form more to relieve pressure than as a sign that the star is blowing apart. "The result of the cracking is to relax the interior and exterior field to a less twisted state," Schwartz said. "This has very little impact on the star itself, other than the fact that it will take time to twist up the field again." SGR 1806-20 is 50,000 light-years away, but the blast was so huge it temporarily blinded some satellites and briefly altered Earth's upper atmosphere. A similar blast occurring within 10 light-years of our planet would fry Earth's ozone layer. But don't worry – the closest magnetar is 13,000 light-years away. Two satellites designed to study the Earth's magnetosphere – the European Space Agency's Cluster and Double Star satellites – didn't go offline and recorded the entire event. Data from these two satellites was combined with observations from around the world to uncover the cracks. So far, nine magnetars have been firmly identified, and four of these repeatedly emit bursts of X-rays and gamma rays. SGR 1806-20, which has a magnetic field more powerful than any other object in the universe, is one of these so-called soft gamma repeaters. Researchers still don't know why SGR 1806-20's burst was so incredible, but they hope that a look into its cracks will help solve the mystery.

Scientists Photograph Giant Squid In Wild

Japanese scientists have photographed for the first time in the wild a live giant squid, one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep sea. The team, led by Tsunemi Kubodera from the National Science Museum in Tokyo, tracked the 8-meter (25-foot) long Architeuthis as it attacked prey at 900 meters deep off the coast of Japan's Bonin islands. "We believe this is the first time a grown giant squid has been captured on camera in its natural habitat," said Kyoichi Mori, a marine researcher who co-authored a piece on the finding in the Royal Society Journal, a leading British biological publication. The camera was operated by remote control during research at the end of October 2004, Mori told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Mori said the squid, which was purplish red like smaller squid, attacked its quarry aggressively, calling into question the image of the animal as lethargic and slow moving. "Contrary to belief that the giant squid is relatively inactive, the squid we captured on film actively used its enormous tentacles to go after prey," Mori said. "It went after some bait that we had on the end of the camera and became stuck, and left behind a tentacle six meters long, " Mori said. Kubodera, also reached by the AP, said researchers ran DNA tests on the tentacle and found it matched those of other giant squids found around Japan. `'But other sightings were of smaller, or very injured squids washed toward the shore -- or of parts of a giant squid," Kubodera said. "This is the first time a full-grown, healthy squid has been sighted in its natural environment in deep water." Giant squids have long attracted human fascination and were written about and mythologized by the ancient Greeks. Scientific interest in the animals has surged in recent years as more specimens have been caught in commercial fishing nets.

Gay Penguin Goes Straight

The animal kingdom's most famous gay couple has split up. Silo and Roy, the cohabiting penguins of Central Park Zoo, are no longer an item.
The pair rose to prominence six years ago when they came out with their same-sex relationship. Since then, they have successfully hatched and raised an adoptive chick (after an uncertain start that involved trying to incubate a rock). They blazed a trail for six other gay penguin couples at the zoo.
But the affair ended when Scrappy, a new female penguin, moved into the neighbourhood and caught Silo's eye. "Silo and Roy stopped spending as much time together or building a nest," John Rowden, the zoo's head curator, told reporters. Silo promptly moved in with Scrappy, building a new nest with her.
Zookeepers are at a loss to explain Silo's sudden conversion.

Guardsmen Sense Ghostly Presence In New Orleans

The presence of the supernatural and the influence of voodoo long have been synonymous with New Orleans. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, members of the U.S. military are saying that there's something spooky going on and it's not just images of death and destruction that's haunting them. By all accounts, the Sophie B. Wright Middle School in New Orleans sits empty and evacuated except for military personnel who have taken over the campus as a staging site for missions around the battered city. But the men in uniform have the feeling that they're not alone. It prompted a chaplain to utter this directive: "In the name of Jesus Chris, I command you Satan to leave the dark areas of this building." Said Sgt. Robin Hairston of the California National Guard: "I was in my sleeping bag and I opened by eyes and in the doorway was a little girl. It wasn't my imagination." Hairston wasn't the only one seeing things. Spc. Rosales Leanor had her own close encounter. "I was using the restroom and I just saw a little shadow," Leanor said. "Kind of looming in front of me." Another member of the Guard unit said that she saw and heard a little girl laughing when she opened a closet that contained cleaning supplies. At a Baton Rouge marina, boats were strewn like trash, but not a shred of paper could be found. Except for the pages of a Bible that was found by a soldier. It was open to the Book of Revelation. At a nearby church, nearly destroyed, another Bible was found, showing the exact same passage from Revelation. Like the power of nature, there is a power at work in New Orleans that defies explanation.

Photos May Show Earth-Like Activity On Mars

Mars is still nothing like Earth, but earthquakes and global warming may be changing the face of the Red Planet, new NASA photos taken from orbit suggest. The emerging picture of a geologically old but still evolving world is exciting to Mars scientists, who hope to learn whether life did or ever could exist there. Two photos taken almost three years apart by the Mars Orbiter Camera show gullies on a dune in the Hellespontus region of Mars. Scientists are studying what phenomena led to their formation.The latest findings, made by comparing photos taken by a camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, were announced yesterday. "What the Mars orbital camera has revealed from this long and detailed study of the Red Planet is a dynamic Mars, a planet that can change – not on the mind-boggling millions and billions of years, but on the order of years and decades," said Michael Meyer, chief scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program. The discovery of recent changes on Mars were made after analyzing images at Malin Space Science Systems, a Sorrento Mesa company that designed the camera aboard the Mars Global Surveyor. The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars 249 miles above its surface since Sept. 12, 1997. Placing photographs side by side, researchers at the company discovered mysterious gullies appearing on the walls of sand dunes in less than three years, tracks from boulders that had tumbled down the steep wall of a crater between November 2003 and December 2004, dramatic melting of ice at the south pole over three consecutive martian summers, and even a meteorite crater that hadn't existed 20 years ago. The boulder tracks have particularly interested scientists. Exactly what may have shaken the boulders loose is unclear. Strong winds could have dislodged them, but researchers yesterday said they couldn't rule out a "marsquake." "Seismic activity would be my guess, and it would be the first evidence that we have of anything like that," said Mike Malin, principal investigator for the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, and head of Malin Space Science Systems. It's not unreasonable to suspect that Mars does have occasional quakes, although the planet today is essentially geologically inactive, the scientists said. Confirmation that one or more earthquakes caused the boulders to fall would be significant because that would mean Mars is still warm enough to have rock move beneath the ground. That in turn might suggest that volcanism is still occurring on Mars – generating enough heat to maybe support primitive life deep beneath the surface of the planet, said Jack Mustard, a geologist at Brown University in Providence, R.I. On the surface, Mars looks mostly cold and dead – pummeled by meteorites and eroded by billions of years of wind storms. With an atmosphere of mainly carbon dioxide and some water vapor, it orbits the sun from an average distance of 143 million miles – compared with 93 million miles for Earth. The Red Planet's thin atmosphere and its distance from the sun make average temperatures 81 degrees below zero. But scientists suspect that Mars may have had a very different past. Spacecraft in orbit and on the surface have found evidence suggesting that water may have been abundant billions of years ago. Some of the more intriguing finds include geologic features that resemble river beds, delta regions and large basins. Two NASA rovers have roamed the planet since early last year searching for evidence of past water, and one of them has found compelling evidence. More missions are planned to hunt for the chemicals essential for life. Last month, NASA launched its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which will search for evidence that water persisted on the surface long enough to provide a habitat for life. In the meantime, the discoveries announced yesterday suggest that Mars is still a dynamic place, even if it's a pale shadow of its youth. Two photographs discussed yesterday, one taken July 17, 2002, and the second taken April 27 of this year, show that gullies down the face of a sand dune formed at some point in between those two dates. It's unlikely water would have formed the gullies because liquid water would have trickled down into the sandy dune before it was able to flow downhill, said Malin. Instead, the gullies may have formed after carbon dioxide frost, trapped by windblown sand during the martian winter, vaporized rapidly in the spring, he said. The release of carbon dioxide gas could have made sand flow as a fluid that carved the gullies. Malin said he has seen a similar phenomenon in Antarctica, where water ice can be incorporated into sand dunes. At Mars' south pole, an escarpment of frozen carbon dioxide has retreated nearly 10 feet a year over the past three summers. "It's evaporating now at a prodigious rate," said Malin. The significance of this is Mars is experiencing climate change, or has experienced climate change." Why Mars may be warming is a mystery, he said.

South Korea To Develop Combat Robots

South Korea announced it was developing highly sophisticated combat robots that could complement the roles of human soldiers on battlefields. The ministries of defence and information and communication approved a joint project worth 32.4 million dollars to develop the robot system by 2011. Tentative designs released at a meeting of science ministers here showed three different types of robots that look like a sphinx without wings. Equipped with six or eight wheels or legs, they would be capable of walking or running through rough terrain. Armed with weapons and sensors, the robots could be put to combat missions or dangerous tasks such as detecting mines, the ministries said. The ministries said they will also invest some 30 million dollars to develop surveillance sensor networks by 2010.

Exorcist Convention

Orthodontists have national conventions, as do lawyers and computer salespeople. So why not exorcists? At the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday Pope Benedict greeted Italian exorcists who, he disclosed, are currently holding their national convention.The Pope encouraged them to "carry on their important work in the service of the Church." Problem was that until the Pope spoke few people outside the inner circle knew that a convention of Beelzebub-busters was going on, presumably in Rome. And where were they holding it? In a church, a hotel, a graveyard? "They try to keep these things quiet," said a Catholic professor who has dealings with exorcists. The Roman Catholic Church has shown growing interest in exorcism in Italy. In 1999, the Vatican issued its first updated ritual for exorcism since 1614 and warned that the devil is still at work. The official Roman Catholic exorcism starts with prayers, a blessing and sprinkling of holy water, the laying on of hands on the possessed, and the making of the sign of the cross. It ends with an "imperative formula" in which the devil is ordered to leave the possessed. The formula begins: "I order you, Satan..." It goes on to denounce Satan as "prince of the world" and "enemy of human salvation." It ends: "Go back, Satan." A Vatican university announced last Thursday that for the second year running it will hold a course on exorcism and Satanism for Roman Catholic priests. The course starts next month at the Regina Apostolorum, one of Rome's most prestigious pontifical universities, and this year participants can take it not only in person at the Rome campus but via videoconference from other Italian cities. This, a university statement said, was because of great interest after last year's course, which was attended by nearly 130 people.The four-month course, which begins in October, is what the university calls inter-disciplinary. It includes medical, psychological and religious aspects of Satanism and exorcism. According to some estimates, as many as 5,000 people are thought to be members of Satanic cults in Italy with 17-to 25-year-olds making up three quarters of them. Interest in the devil and the occult has been boosted by films such as "The Exorcist" in 1973 and last year's "Exorcist: The Beginning." Last year, Italy was gripped by the story of two teenage members of a heavy metal rock band called the "Beasts of Satan" who were killed by other band members in a human sacrifice. The deaths horrified Catholic Italy, with pages of newspapers given over to descriptions of the black candles and goats' skulls decorating one victim's bedroom and witness statements of sexual violence.

Student Batty Over Rare Creature

Spending three years studying one of the UK's rare creatures might just drive you batty, but one university student is looking forward to the task. Jon Flanders from Bristol university is the main researcher for the study of the greater horseshoe bat. He will tag the bats and use radio receivers to find out where they fly. The project is based in Purbeck, Dorset, where 200 of the bats who are likely to have babies live. Just 4,000 of the creatures remain in the UK. The study will focus on the once-yearly "bat swarming". Every autumn, the creatures return to their winter roosts to swarm about. Jon and his team aim to find out why. "We are already beginning to build up a picture of where the bats are feeding and what routes they are using," said Jon.

Static Man

Fire officials evacuated a building in southern Australia after a man triggered a massive shock of static electricity that caused burn marks in the carpet, a media report said. Fire officials in southern Victoria state said the man, Frank Clewer, had built up at least 30,000 volts of static electricity in his jacket simply by walking around the western city of Warrnambool, according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. He received his first shock when he walked into a local business Thursday afternoon. "It sounded almost like a firecracker or something like that," Clewer told the ABC. "Within say around five minutes the carpet started to erupt." Burns about 0.79 inches in diameter were left on the carpet where he had been standing, the report said. ABC did not mention if Clewer was injured. The Country Fire Authority evacuated the building, fearing the incident might trigger electrical problems in the building, but let Clewer go, the report said. But when he got in his car, Clewer's problems continued. "I actually scorched a piece of plastic I had on the floor of the car," he said. Fire officials took Clewer's jacket and said it continued to give off voltage, the report said.

Loch Ness Monster Hunters On Verge Of Major Breakthrough

Scientists hunting the Loch Ness Monster say they've made a significant breakthrough. Flesh-like material, which could hold the key to Nessie's origins, has been recovered from the loch bed. It'll now be subject to DNA testing here and in the United States. Veteran Nessie-hunter Dr Bob Rines is a pioneer of radar and sonar, at 83 this could be his last expedition...but also his most successful. Using underwater robots, the team has scooped up material that may finally prove the existence of large animals deep in the loch. Samples will be tested at laboratories in Scotland and the United States. The results could be far-reaching....and if they are they will be found. The Great Northern Diver, costing half a million dollars, had its first outing today. Packed with the most sophisticated technology this can delve where nothing's delved before. Nessie-lovers have heard it all before. They refuse to believe the monster is dead.

Lion VS. Bear

Beauty Products From The Skin Of Executed Chinese Prisoners

A Chinese cosmetics company has been accused of using skin from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe. Agents for the firm, which could not be named for legal reasons, have told would-be customers that skin taken from prisoners after they have been shot is being used to develop collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments, the Guardian newspaper said after an undercover investigation. "The agents say some of the company's products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts is 'traditional' and nothing to 'make such a big fuss about'," the paper alleged. It said doctors and politicians were worried about the dangers associated with people wanting to look better in such ways, because European regulations to control cosmetic treatments such as collagen are not expected for several years. "Apart from the ethical concerns, there is also the potential risk of infection," the newspaper said. Collagen is the fibrous protein constituent of skin, cartilage, bone, and other connective tissue. The Guardian said it was unclear whether the anonymous company's treatments were already available in Britain or over the internet.

Disabled Children Fund In Cages

Nine children were found locked in cages in their home in Wakeman in Huron County. The sheriff said the kids, ages 1 to 14, were found in the cages with no blankets or pillows. The wooden cages, estimated to be about 3 feet by 3 feet, were built into the walls. A teddy bear lies on the ground in front of children's swings, in the backyard of a home in Clarksfield Township, Ohio. Eleven disabled children were removed from the home, after authorities entered the home with a warrant, where some of the children were made to sleep in cages less than 3 feet high, authorities said. Officials are not releasing the photos of the cages, but the sheriff described them as makeshift cellblocks. The parents, Sharon and Mike Gravelle, didn't seem to think anything was wrong with their treatment, officials said. Officials said all the children were adopted children. The Gravelles have not been arrested. They had 11 children in all. The Gravelles said they put them in cages to protect themselves from each other because they are disabled. According to officials, the cages had alarms that would go off if the children tried to escape. "Basically, the parents thought they were providing for the protection of the children from themselves and from each other," said Huron County's Lt. Randy Sommers. "They thought it was circumstances that warranted the cages at night." The children were taken Friday to Fisher-Titus Medical Center on Friday. They are listed in good condition. They are now in four different foster homes. Neighbors said the family stopped going to church and actually built a church at their St. John Road home. "They worked all the time carrying rocks. It was non-stop continuous," neighbor Ron Wilkerson said. Officials said the Gravelles adopted the children from other agencies outside of Huron County. The family received monthly checks for adopting the kids.

Artist Bakes 'Body Parts'

Inside a dark room, realistic-looking "human body parts" are stacked on shelves and hanging on meat hooks. The place looks like a mortuary or the lair of a serial killer, but in fact, it's a bakery. What appears to be putrefying body parts are the bread sculptures of 28-year-old art student Kittiwat Unarrom. "Of course, people were shocked and thought that I was mad when they saw the works. But once they knew the idea behind it, they understood and became interested in the work itself, instead of thinking that I am crazy," said the fine arts masters degree student. He hopes his realistic artwork will make people ponder whether they are consuming food, or food is consuming them. "Everyone's life is rushed nowadays, even when it comes to eating," he said. "When we eat, we don't think about our health or safety, we only think of our taste buds." As an undergraduate art student, Kittiwat started painting portraits. He then moved to mixed media and finally dough - a natural medium for him since his family runs a bakery. Along with edible human heads crafted from dough, chocolate, raisins and cashews, Kittiwat makes human arms, feet, and chicken and pig parts. He uses anatomy books and his vivid memories of visiting a forensics museum to create the human parts. He now is receiving regular orders from the curious and from pranksters who want to surprise their friends or colleagues, but that's a minor sideline. By the end of the year, Kittiwat's confectionary slaughterhouse will go on display at Bangkok's Silpakorn University. It's his final dissertation, and he hopes it will secure him a master of arts degree. "When people see the bread, they don't want to eat it. But when they taste it, it's just normal bread," he said. "The lesson is 'don't judge just by outer appearances.' "

Dinosaurs Were Like Giant Chickens

The popular image of Tyrannosaurus rex and other killer dinosaurs may have to be changed as a scientific consensus emerges that many were covered with feathers. Most predatory dinosaurs such as tyrannosaurs and velociraptors have usually been depicted in museums, films and books as covered in a thick hide of dull brown or green skin. The impression was of a killer stripped of adornment in the name of hunting efficiency. This week, however, a leading expert on dinosaur evolution will tell the British Association, the principal conference of British scientists, that this image is wrong. Gareth Dyke, a palaeontologist of University College Dublin, will tell the BA Festival of Science being held in the city that most such creatures were coated with delicate feathery plumage that could even have been multi-coloured. Fossil evidence that such dinosaurs were feathered is now “irrefutable”. “The way these creatures are depicted can no longer be considered scientifically accurate,” he said. “All the evidence is that they looked more like birds than reptiles. Tyrannosaurs might have resembled giant chicks.” The latest visualisation suggests that parts of Walking with Dinosaurs, the acclaimed BBC series, cannot be seen as scientifically valid. Similar criticisms might also be levelled at the Hollywood blockbuster Jurassic Park. The Natural History Museum in London, which has a popular exhibition of robot dinosaurs, conceded this weekend that some of its permanent displays may have to be adapted to reflect the new findings. The feather revelation follows a series of discoveries in fossil beds at Liaoning in northeast China where a volcanic eruption buried many dinosaurs alive. It also cut off the oxygen that would otherwise have rotted them away. Some theropod (“beast-footed”) dinosaurs were preserved complete with feathery plumage. Theropod is the name given to predatory creatures that walked upright on two legs, balanced by a long tail. The feathered finds include an early tyrannosaur, a likely ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex, two small flying dinosaurs and five other predators. Feathers are thought to have evolved first to keep dinosaurs warm and only later as an aid to flight. Such finds are significant in linking dinosaurs to modern birds. Most palaeontologists accept that birds are descended from dinosaurs but there is fierce debate over how this happened. At the Dublin conference, Dyke will present new evidence suggesting that dinosaurs evolved the ability to fly and that some even developed all four limbs into wings.

"Albino" Giraffe Photographed

A researcher in Africa has finally spotted the rare white giraffe that he's been seeking for twelve years, and he's got a photograph to prove it. Charles Foley, a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) researcher, first heard rumors of the white giraffe in 1993 when he was working in Tanzania's Tarangire National Park doing research on savanna elephants. Intrigued, Foley set out to find the animal, but by the next year, the sightings had stopped coming in. "I assumed it had died, either at the hand of man or best," he said. "I never stopped looking though." Foley's persistence paid off this summer. While conducting a routine aerial survey of a group of the park's elephants, he spotted a white speck in the distance. "I looked ... blinked ... looked again ... and it was still there," Foley said. Foley told his pilot to make another pass over the spot and managed to snap a photograph of the white giraffe just as they flew over the trees. "The proof is there to see — a mostly white giraffe with small dark blotches on its body," Foley said. "Only the bottom half of its legs were the more traditional brown color." Foley doubts the giraffe he photographed is the same giraffe sighted in 1993, and that it is probably not a pure albino animal. Albino animals lack the pigments that give their skin color. Rather, Foley thinks the giraffe was probably just lighter than normal.

Fluorescent Shark Caught On Film

Science never sleeps, even when facing down a hurricane. Luckily for a handful of deep sea explorers, they've found a rather unusual nightlight. This still photo from a video taken on August 22 shows the first visual evidence of the fluorescent chain catshark. Scientists taking part in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Operation Deep Scope 2005 expedition found the three-foot-long (one-meter-long) animal on the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico. The fluorescent shark was initially observed—though not captured on film—during last year's Deep Scope expedition. Starstruck researchers noted that the glowing menace bears an uncanny resemblance to the fictional jaguar shark pursued by Bill Murray in the 2004 movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Deep Scope 2005 researchers found this shark only days before Hurricane Katrina moved over the Gulf of Mexico on August 27. At its peak, Katrina was listed as a Category Five storm, with winds reaching 175 miles an hour (280 kilometers an hour). The expedition ship waited out the storm at a Texas port while research continued onboard.

Scientists Find Growing Land Bulge In Oregon

A large, slow-growing volcanic bulge in Eastern Oregon is attracting the attention of seismologists who say that the rising ground could be the beginnings of a volcano or simply magma shifting underground. Scientists said that the 100 square-mile (260 sq-km) bulge, first discovered by satellite, poses no immediate threat to nearby residents. "It is perfectly safe for anyone over there," said Michael Lisowski, geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington. The bulge is rising at a rate of about 1.4 inches per year, according to a report issued by the U.S. Geological Survey. The bulge is located in a sparsely populated area 3 miles southwest of South Sister, a mountain 25 miles west of Bend, Oregon. Lisowski said the unnamed bulge was created because of a big cavity, estimated to be about 4.5 miles below the surface, that is filling with fluid. The fluid is likely magma, but could also be water. It was described in the report as a lake 1 mile across and 65 feet deep. The bulge is a bare patch of land with no residents, and anyone in the area would not be able to see, feel or smell anything, seismologists said. South Sister is one of three volcanic peaks called The Three Sisters, which are part of the Cascade mountain range. The range includes four of the 18 most active volcanoes in the United States, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The South Sister probably erupted last time about 2,000 years ago, seismologists said. Further north, the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens killed 57 people, destroyed at least 230 square miles of forest and spewed ash for hundreds of miles. Mount St. Helens has rumbled back to life recently, spitting lava, rocks and ash, but has not had another big eruption. A lava dome is growing in the huge crater created in Mount St. Helens, but that event appears to be unrelated to the South Sister bulge, seismologists said. "Growth of the new lava dome inside the crater of Mount St. Helens continues, accompanied by low rates of seismicity, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of ash," the U.S. Geological Survey said in a daily report. Scientists said they would continue to monitor the bulge, most likely over a number of years. "We haven't seen anything like this in the Cascade range," Lisowski says, "although we have only been looking in the last 20 years."

Landlord Sues Restaurateurs Over Ghosts

The owners of a Japanese restaurant who claim their newly renovated building is haunted are being sued by their landlord for refusing to move in.An offer to hold an exorcism was refused, according to the 2.6 million dollar lawsuit filed by the owners of the Church Street Station entertainment complex last month in Orange County Circuit Court. The lawsuit also asks a judge to decide whether the building is haunted and, if so, whether the ghosts would interfere with the restaurant's business. Christopher and Yoko Chung had planned to move their Amura Japanese Restaurant into the building in October 2004, but backed out of the lease. The Chungs' attorney says subcontractors gave several documented reports of having seen ghosts or apparitions in the restaurant at night. The attorney also says Christopher Chung's religious beliefs require him to "avoid encountering or having any association with spirits or demons."

Long Live The Klotho Mice

Klotho, a gene in both mice and men, has a definite effect on aging, according to Dr. Makoto Kuro-o. Stimulating the Klotho gene seems to delay many of the effects of old age, like weakening of bones, clogging of the arteries and loss of muscle fitness.For their current study, Kuro-o and colleagues created a strain of mice in which the Klotho gene is more active than in normal mice. The mice lived between 19% and 31% longer than normal mice. Dr. Kuro-o writes;
To understand the mechanism by which Klotho suppresses aging, my laboratory is focused on determining specific activity of Klotho protein and identifying molecules that interact with Klotho. The klotho mouse is the first laboratory animal model of human aging caused by a single gene mutation. Studies on the klotho mouse and the klotho gene are thus expected to provide new insights into human aging.
An interesting note is that it appears that the Klotho-enhanced mice who are more long-lived seem to have fewer offspring as a side effect. Also, the effect of Klotho on insulin could create a problem because it may extend life at the expense of making people diabetic.
Mice with the Klotho gene are not the first to help human beings achieve longer life; read about Yoda, the world's oldest mouse and the Methuselah Mouse 'M' Prize.

Science fiction authors have been interested in technologies that might lengthen human life; almost invariably, each of these methods also has a particular flaw. Kurt Vonnegut wrote about anti-gerasone in his well-known short story Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Anti-gerasone's flaw was that it worked too well - neither material goods nore inheritance laws could keep up. In A World Out Of Time, Larry Niven writes about young-forever, which puts off death almost forever. Unfortunately, it works only with children, who then never go through puberty. The desire to live forever, and the belief that it will never quite work out, of course predates science fiction authors. The ancient Greeks wrote about the goddess Eos, who fell in live with a mortal man, Tithonus; she asked Zeus to grant him immortality. Zeus does so, but Eos forgets to ask for eternal youth; Tithonus lives on and on, eventually withering into a shrill grasshopper. And, as it happens, the name "Klotho" is also derived from the Greek myths about the three Fates. Klotho combs and spun the thread one's life, Atropos wove the thread into the fabric of one's actions, and Lachesis snipped the thread at death.

Researchers Think Hot Dog Preservative Could Be Life-Saving Drug

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health think are studying the meat preservative sodium nitrite as a cheap but potent treatment for sickle cell anemia, heart attacks, brain aneurysms, and even an illness that suffocates babies. The substance seems to dialate blood vessels and help cells use oxygen.

MIT Researchers Find Clue To Start Of Universe

If you want to hear a little bit of the Big Bang, you're going to have to turn down your stereo.That's what neighbors of MIT's Haystack Observatory found out. They were asked to make a little accommodation for science, and now the results are in: Scientists at Haystack have made the first radio detection of deuterium, an atom that is key to understanding the beginning of the universe. The findings are being reported in an article in the Sept. 1 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. The team of scientists and engineers, led by Alan E.E. Rogers, made the detection using a radio telescope array designed and built at the MIT research facility in Westford, Mass. Rogers is currently a senior research scientist and associate director of the Haystack Observatory. After gathering data for almost one year, a solid detection was obtained on May 30. The detection of deuterium is of interest because the amount of deuterium can be related to the amount of dark matter in the universe, but accurate measurements have been elusive. Because of the way deuterium was created in the Big Bang, an accurate measurement of deuterium would allow scientists to set constraints on models of the Big Bang. Also, an accurate measurement of deuterium would be an indicator of the density of cosmic baryons, and that density of baryons would indicate whether ordinary matter is dark and found in regions such as black holes, gas clouds or brown dwarfs, or is luminous and can be found in stars. This information helps scientists who are trying to understand the very beginning of our universe. Until now the deuterium atom has been extremely difficult to detect with instruments on Earth. Emission from the deuterium atom is weak since it is not very abundant in space-there is approximately one deuterium atom for every 100,000 hydrogen atoms, thus the distribution of the deuterium atom is diffuse. Also, at optical wavelengths the hydrogen line is very close to the deuterium line, which makes it subject to confusion with hydrogen; but at radio wavelengths, deuterium is well separated from hydrogen and measurements can provide more consistent results. In addition, our modern lifestyle, filled with gadgets that use radio waves, presented quite a challenge to the team trying to detect the weak deuterium radio signal. Radio frequency interference bombarded the site from cell phones, power lines, pagers, fluorescent lights, TV, and in one case from a telephone equipment cabinet where the doors had been left off. To locate the interference, a circle of yagi antennas was used to indicate the direction of spurious signals, and a systematic search for the RFI sources began. At times, Rogers asked for help from Haystack's neighbors, and in several instances replaced a certain brand of answering machine that was sending out a radio signal with one that did not interfere with the experiment. The interference caused by one person's stereo system was solved by having a part on the sound card replaced by the factory. The other members of the team working with Rogers are Kevin Dudevoir, Joe Carter, Brian Fanous and Eric Kratzenberg (all of Haystack Observatory) and Tom Bania of Boston University. The Deuterium Array at Haystack is a soccer-field size installation conceived and built at the Haystack facility with support from the National Science Foundation, MIT and TruePosition Inc.

Clever Whale Uses Fish To Catch Seagulls

An enterprising young killer whale at Marineland has figured out how to use fish as bait to catch seagulls — and shared his strategy with his fellow whales. Michael Noonan, a professor of animal behavior at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., made the discovery by accident while studying orca acoustics. "One day I noticed one of the young whales appeared to have come up with a procedure for luring gulls down to the pool," the professor said. "I found it interesting so I noted it in my log." First, the young whale spit regurgitated fish onto the surface of the water, then sank below the water and waited. If a hungry gull landed on the water, the whale would surge up to the surface, sometimes catching a free meal of his own. Noonan watched as the same whale set the same trap again and again. Within a few months, the whale's younger half brother adopted the practice. Eventually the behavior spread and now five Marineland whales supplement their diet with fresh fowl, the scientist said. "It looked liked one was watching while the other tried," Noonan said of the whale's initial behavior. The capacity to come up with the gull-baiting strategy and then share the technique with others — known as cultural learning in the scientific world — was once believed to be one of those abilities that separated humans from other animals. But biologists have since proven certain animals, including dolphins and chimps, do this. "This is an example in which a new behavior spread through a population," Noonan.

Tongue Eating Parasite Found

A gross creature which gobbles up a fish's tongue and then replaces it with its own body has been found in Britain for the firsttime. The bug - which has the scientific name Cymothoa Exigua - was discovered inside the mouth of a red snapper bought from a London fishmonger. The 3.5cm creature had grabbed onto the fish's tongue and slowly ate away at it until only a stub was left. It then latched onto the stub and became the fish's "replacement tongue".

Police Detain Vampire In Russia’s EU Enclave

Police in the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad have detained a young man who was behaving like a vampire. The 21-year-old man stabbed an elderly woman on the street and attempted to taste her blood, a local prosecutor was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. According to the investigation, before that attack, the young man had entered a house and stabbed two other elderly people. All three who sustained injuries are currently in hospitals. Criminal proceedings have been instigated in connection with the incidents under the article of attempted murder. The suspect will undergo tests on his mental health.

Saturn’s Moon Is Hot Stuff

Enceladus, one of Saturn’s innermost moons, is one of only three in the solar system to display geothermal or volcanic activity, scientists believe. Observations sent back by Cassini from Saturn show a surprise hotspot and uneven atmosphere around the moon’s south pole. Such activity has been observed only on Jupiter’s moon Io and Neptune’s Triton. Professor Dennis Matson, of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said the findings produced “stunning excitement”. The observations were made in a third fly-past of Enceladus by Cassini. Professor Michele Dougherty, of Imperial College, London, said: “On the basis of the results . . . from the first fly-bys we persuaded the Cassini team to take a much closer look. We got within 106 miles of the surface.” Data collected showed “a really surprising picture of the processes at work”. Temperatures at the south pole could not be produced by heat from the Sun, as the shiny surface of the planet reflects over 80 per cent of incident rays. The finding is as bizarre as if Antarctica had been found to be hotter than Earth’s equator. Parallel 80-mile “warm” crevasses were also found around the pole, which researchers have dubbed “tiger stripes” because of their appearance. The series of bluish stripes are spaced at 25-mile intervals and warmer than the surrounding ice surface, although they are still very cold at around minus 180C (minus 292F). The cracks act like vents and spew out fine ice crystals which then evaporate into clouds. Dr David Parker, Director of Space Science at the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council said: “This little tiny world turns out to have, perhaps, a boiler within it.” Terrain at the south pole also appears to be much smoother than elsewhere, indicating recent geologic activity. Simple organic molecules have also been detected, although this does not suggest the presence of any life. Enceladus, the eighth of Saturn’s known satellites, is only 314 miles wide - half the length of Britain. Discovered in 1789, it is named after a Titan in Greek mythology who was killed in battle and buried under Mount Etna by Athena. It is the shiniest object in our solar system.The Cassini spacecraft, a four-year collaboration between Nasa, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, departed in 1997 and reached Saturn on July 1, 2004. On January 14, the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe descended to the surface of the moon Titan. The research team has two further fly-bys of Enceladus planned for later this year to gather more data. Professor Matson said: “Icy satellites were earlier written off as dull and boring. We don’t know what the whole story is yet, but it’s going to be interesting.”