#The Mystery of the Missing Methane (Op-Ed) Chris Busch is director of research at Energy Innovation:
which is regarded generally as the Nobel prize of conservation and the author Of high Moon over the Amazon:
In his book he presents a new creation story of the universe the Earth life and humanity based on the evidence and skepticism of science.
when the universe was about 380000 years old it had cooled to about 3000 Kelvin (4940 degrees Fahrenheit) cool enough for electrons to attach to nuclei and form neutral atomic matter in highly excited states.
After about 400 million years of expansion following the Big bang the universe was cool enough for gravity to begin coalescing clouds of hydrogen into stars igniting nuclear fusion for the first time The birth of the first stars marked a turning point in the life of the universe from that point forward the universe
took on the features we see today with galaxies full of stars surrounded by planetary system.
Stars perform some of the most important work in the cosmos: They manufacture the elements heavier than hydrogen they create planets as part of their own formation
and they provide energy for those planets as our own sun does for us. Astronomers have yet to see a solar system that is neatly ordered like our own with a nice rocky planet located in the sweet spot for liquid water and life.
Just how special is Earth's situation? The media was recently abuzz when researchers estimated (PNAS Nov 26 2013) that there could be 8 billion
or 9 billion stars in our galaxy with Earthlike planets about 5 percent of stars making the odds very high for intelligent life elsewhere.
Yet no life or evidence of it has ever been found beyond Earth so the jury is still very much out on the questions of how rare
The planet was covered entirely with thick sheets of ice except near the equator and life in the dark oceans was driven nearly to extinction.
Later research suggested the comet or asteroid that created the crater must have been 6 to 9 miles (10 to 15 kilometers) in diameter
and traveling about 10000 mph (16100 kph) when it hit triggering large fires a global winter
If not for the Earth's chance encounter with an asteroid or comet 65 million years ago it is doubtful that people would be here at all.
and increased sensitivity to sun Hollinger said. Of course real tattoos come with their own set of risks including contaminated ink that has caused infection outbreaks.
The calendar year was 10 moons long and the remaining (roughly 70) days of winter occurred without being assigned a month name.
#and moon#having the same roots. Like many civilizations the Romans transitioned away from a lunar calendar to one that better reflected the seasons:
and fall were each slightly longer than three moon cycles (compare the known lengths of 92.8 93.7 and 89.9 days against a three-moon cycle of 88.6 days).
In this calendar the Kalends Nones and Ides were separated from the moon phases and instead each occurred on the 1st 7th and 15th of each month.
#Capturing a Comet-Galaxy Conjunction Victor Rogus is an amateur astronomer and this is the eighth in his series of exclusive Space. com posts about amateur astronomy.
He contributed this article to Space. com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. I was prepared well in advance for a most exciting event to occur on the night of April 4 and the morning of April 5 2013:
the conjunction of comet Pan STARRS (C/2011 L4) and the great galaxy Andromeda (M-31.
This certainly was one of those once-in-a-lifetime events. My wife has been keen to point out that in the field of astronomy once-in-a-lifetime events seem to occur regularly.
Because the comet and galaxy were circumpolar (continually visible throughout the evening or in this case dipping below the western horizon to re appear in the east before dawn.)
A couple of the stars of the constellation Cassiopeia would serve as rough pointer stars to the great messier object and the comet and scanning with my binoculars
In one I thought I had captured a meteor intersecting the comet's tail I just could not tell in the field.
When I inspected it at home it turned out to be a satellite. It was kind of a rough night but
but those special times when this galaxy is adorned by a comet just about as bright as itself makes the effort well worth it and
and was the first person to introduce me to the stars. He was a fine father
Space. com is hosting a slideshow of Rogus'night sky images. Rogus'most recent Op-Ed was Celestial Showstopper:
The Only Venus Transits I'll Ever See. The views expressed are those of the author
This version of the article was published originally on Space. com o
#Vitamin b12: Deficiency & Supplements Vitamin b12 is crucial to the human body which needs it to produce new DNA red blood cells proteins hormones and lipids (fats).
With more people sharing our mutual responsibility to reduce carbon footprints by shifting to plant-based meals we have reason to be hopeful for our planet's future.
and supported an estimated population of 100000 people who raised giant monuments such as the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon.
#Dino-Killing Impact Remade Plant kingdom, Too The killer meteorite that extinguished the dinosaurs also torched North america's forests and plants.
See Photos of a Fossilized Forest in the Canadian Arctic Fossil records show that angiosperms of all kinds thrived before a meteorite
or asteroid crashed into Earth 66 million years ago. That stupendous blast charred vast woodlands that had grown from Canada to New mexico.
and adding fresh water-two of the most vulnerable resources on the planet-as well as overuse of fertilisers herbicides and pesticides that damage the wider environment.
It harnesses the sun s energy to produce heat that is then used to desalinate seawater and supply freshwater to a greenhouse;
Bezos was accepting a Citation of Merit for the seafaring expedition he funded last year to recover fragments of the F-1 engines that launched giant Saturn V rockets to the moon during the Apollo era.
In addition to Bezos and LÃ pez-Alegrã a the star-studded list of guests and honorees included Spacex founder Elon musk;
Numerous new fungi related to Malassezia (a yeast that causes dandruff in humans) have been found in marine subsurface sediments in the South china sea by Chinese researchers from Zhongshan (Sun Yatsen) University
Mercury is a metal that can be harmful to a baby's developing brain. Canned light tuna has less mercury
and Elaborate Hairstyles This city was constructed as a new capital of egypt by Akhenaten (reign ca. 1353-1335 B c.)a pharaoh who unleashed a religious revolution that saw the Aten a deity shaped as a sun disk assume supremacy
In Denver alone 4. 5 million square feet (41800 square meters) of warehouse space is devoted to growing pot said Kayvan Khalatbari cofounder of Denver Relief Consulting a medical
but new bulbs do a better job of mimicking the sun. The lights use less electricity
if you're a farmer they'll say with a shrug the price of being able to work some of the planet's most fertile soil
or how long has existed Earth in the solar system. And how long has the solar system and the universe itself existed?
What I'm hoping to do is use this idea of deep time to connect with these time scales through these living organisms in a way that we can have some personal connection to them to understand them in a living organic way as opposed to through complete abstraction.
NEA: And when you talk about the idea of year zero what does that mean? Sussman:
or big history as sometimes people refer to it of our planet. NEA: How did these ideas lead to the Oldest Living things in the World project?
Who are some of the other artists who are working in this space that you find particularly interesting?
#I was interested particularly in his work the Last Pictures sending imagery up on a satellite to exist after Earth no longer exists.
and are credited with oxygenating the planet. That took 900 million years. Stromatolites are part biologic and part geologic comprised of living cyanobacteria bound together with nonliving sediments like silt and sand.
I also found several ties to outer space that I wasn't expecting. Those lichens from Greenland that I had mentioned earlier were sent to outer space not so long ago
and were exposed to outer-space conditions. Astrobiologists are studying the beginnings of life On earth by sending extremophiles out of Earth's atmosphere to see
if they survive and asking if they can survive re-entry. The stromatolites and the lichens got
me thinking about time and space and also philosophically where time and space start to slip
and understanding of time and space and where we get that wrong where our observation in particular is telling us something that is not correct.
I've been thinking about for a while now is the idea of dead stars. When you look in the night sky
or you're some place that actually gets dark that all the stars that you see in the sky aren't necessarily all there.
Because it's taken so long for the light to get to Earth that the star has burned already out.
considering doing is to create a light installation about dead stars using accurate scientific information to map out the dead stars in the sky
and a face in the rocky formations on Mars. In their brain-scanning study the scientists Jiangang Liu Jun Li Lu Feng Ling Li Jie Tian
When a person expects to see a face say on Mars or in a piece of toast the expectation switches on a brain region linked to processing faces.
which plants convert the sun s energy into sugars for growth and storage. In wheat like in other crops this process results in more energy-rich grains.
Rocks On earth's surface are bombarded by cosmic rays from outer space that create beryllium-10 isotopes at a steady rate.
The rate of thinning that we detected from our rock samples is comparable to the contemporary rate detected by satellites Johnson said.
A new map and website called Global Forest Watch provides the first near-real-time look at the planet's forests using a combination of satellite data
The new Global Forest Watch will update monthly at a medium resolution with data from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra and Aqua satellites.
The findings confirm that natural Amazon forests help reduce global warming by lowering the planet's greenhouse gas levels the researchers said.
But over the years vegetation thins in a self-regulating process so that mature trees have enough space
in order to take advantage of the sun s energy or grow indoors with the help of artificial lights.
and can save space and energy and improve crop yield. It takes advantage of the vertical space of city buildings rather than turning over wide expanses of land to agriculture and uses advanced greenhouse technology:
hydroponics or aeroponics and environmental controls that regulate temperature humidity and light to produce vegetables fruits and other crops year-round.
This increases efficiency not just in terms of energy use but by allowing layers of growing plants to be packed more densely making more efficient use of space.
and protect the planet too. Eat less beef. That's right. If we all ate less beef we would
although others claim it was caused by a meteor impact. The Big Freeze affected not only North america but also Europe.
Madagascar s political problems have helped make lemur species the most endangered group of mammals on the planet.
They like low open spaces and enjoy sleeping in hollow trees rock crevices burrows or empty termite mounds.
After waiting for two months it was very exciting to see Zamora told Live Science's Our Amazing Planet.
+Original article at Live Science's Our Amazing Planet P
#Chinchilla Facts Chinchillas are rodents that are native to the Andes mountains of northern Chile. Often kept as pets chinchillas are prized also for their luxuriously soft fur
We were trying to see how many resources we take from planet Earth in order to create what we are eating Ron Milo the study's co-principal investigator
Where oh where is the planet's missing heat? In 1999 the feverish rise in Earth's surface temperatures suddenly slowed even as greenhouse gas emissions escalated.
Small basin big effect So how does the Atlantic cool an entire planet? The likely culprit is a natural climate cycle linked to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) current Tung said.
and adventures in South american rain forests in High Moon Over the Amazon: My Quest to Understand the Monkeys of the Night (Lantern Books:
</p><p>Astronomers have found the first direct evidence of cosmic inflation the theorized dramatic expansion of the universe that put the bang in the Big bang 13.8 billion years ago new research suggests.</
<a href=http://www. livescience. com/44136-universe-inflation-gravitational-waves-discovery. html target=blank>Major Discovery:'
'Smoking Gun'for Universe's Incredible Big bang Expansion Found</a p><p>There's never been a shortage of doomsday scenarios.
Humans Can Smell More than 1 Trillion Scents</a p><p>The first direct evidence of cosmic inflation a period of rapid expansion that occurred a fraction of a second after the Big bang also supports the idea that our universe is just
</p><p>On Monday (March 17) scientists announced new findings that mark the first-ever direct evidence of primordial gravitational waves ripples in space-time created just after the universe began.
<a href=http://www. livescience. com/44158-multiverse-cosmic-inflation-gravitational-waves. html target=blank>Our Universe May Exist in a Multiverse Cosmic Inflation Discovery Suggests</a p
The findings confirm that natural Amazon forests help reduce global warming by lowering the planet's greenhouse gas levels the researchers said.</
In addition to providing up-close encounters with some of the planet's most magnificent species today's zoological parks are placing a growing emphasis on conservation awareness and action.
Chances are pretty good that you will be learning about the latest crisis befalling our wildlife partners on this planet
and contribute to protecting a place that helps stabilize our planet's climate harbors one in ten known species
The purple areas on this map show places where satellites have detected formaldehyde. This chemical forms from isoprene a volatile organic compound that trees can give off
and reflect heat back into space Neufeld told Live Science. But tree pollution has its downsides too
when gasoline and coal are burned Bryan Duncan an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center told Earth Observatory.
Duncan is the head scientist for the Aura satellite which gathered the data used to make the formaldehyde map.
Satellites can't measure isoprenes but they can detect formaldehyde which forms as a result of isoprene emissions.
Taylor contributed this article to Space. com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. As a night photography instructor I'm always encouraging students to integrate inspiring landscape elements in their photographs to create stunning night-sky compositions.
I made a few calculations to figure out how many shots it would take to capture the entire arc of the Milky way galaxy
Stunning Photos of Our Milky way galaxy (Gallery) I stitched this image via PTGUI and processed it through the Lightroom 5 software twice once for the sky and once for the foreground.
and the stars while I was out in the field. I processed the images again to extract as much shadow detail as possible from the tree bushes canyon walls and ground.
This version of the article was published originally on Space. com e
#New Clues to Evolution of Flowering Forests Flowering plants are the most successful group of plants On earth.
and spread before the dino-killing meteorite smashed into Earth and reset life on the planet 65 million years ago.
In modern tropical forests sun-loving trees grab the most energy with tightly packed leaf veins
The results suggest angiosperm forests resembling today's tropical forests dominated after the meteorite impact not before.
#oethe future prosperity of Florida is linked inextricably to the sun and the sea#Shalala said at the press conference.
The heat released from the oceans bumps up the planet s average temperature in addition to the warming caused by the heat trapped by accumulating greenhouse gases in the Earth s atmosphere.
and Sun Quan who had formed an alliance. The battle was a disaster for Cao Cao
Laying siege he was concerned that the forces of Sun Quan would betray and attack him (the alliance between Liu Bei
and Sun had grown cold since the Battle of Red Cliffs). His fear was unfounded not. The Chinese historian Ssu-ma Kuang writes that Sun s general Lu Meng started plotting against him.
Yu is brave and fierce so it is difficult to match him. He already holds (Jing) province
Ssu-ma Kuang wrote that Guan aggravated the situation by seizing Sun Quan s food stores without permission to support the siege of Fancheng.
Sun plotted against Guan. He replaced the local general Lu Meng with a man whom Guan thought would pose no threat.
Sun also sent a letter to Cao Cao offering to launch a joint attack against Guan.
Cao Cao decided to publish Sun Quan s letter hoping that Guan would abandon the siege of Fancheng to fight Sun (Cao Cao wanted to have his enemies fight against each other.
Guan suddenly found himself commanding a weakened force trapped between two enemy armies those of Cao Cao and Sun Quan.
Lu Meng Sun Quan s general made Guan s situation worse by capturing the city of Jiangling
Still Guan refused offers to surrender at one point pretending to surrender to Sun Quan s troops before running away.
and it's not good for our planet. Eating processed and packaged food might be even more risky than most of us realize.
but throughout the natural systems that sustain our health and the planet. Our food system encourages food waste on a massive scale about 40 percent of the food in this country never gets eaten.
but it is sensitive to the sun. To protect it elephants will cover themselves in mud
Climate smart agriculture is a space that bears watching and perhaps even some guarded optimism is in order.
They see color like no other animal on the planet.</</p><p>In fact the 400-million-year-old visual system of the mantis shrimp works more like a satellite sensor than any other animal eye said study researcher Justin Marshall a neurobiologist at the University of Queensland
Whether Nobel laureate or geography teacher women have made significant contributions to the planet and these accomplishments should make the world proud
and even dancing in a pot one of the stars of the film Guardians of the Galaxy bizarrely blends the plant and animal kingdoms.
Some scientists even say Earth's biology suggests the possibility of thinking plants somewhere in the universe.
or a sense of their location in space Chamovitz said which is why they can tell
The famous Venus flytrap shuts its jaws rapidly by essentially growing them shut Gilroy said.
Earth's Plant life from Space in Photos Hunt added that these changes in vegetation do not coincide with any known period of climate change
After Plafker heard the Space Needle had swayed as the seismic waves raced past he called his boss in Menlo Park Calif. recommending an immediate response.
Any earthquake big enough to shake the Space Needle from Alaska must be of interest to the USGS he said.
+Original article at Live Science's Our Amazing Planet
#Origins of Inebriation Revealed In prehistoric Eurasia drugs and alcohol were reserved originally for ritual ceremonies
#My Time With Comet Lovejoy (Op-Ed) Victor Rogus is an amateur astronomer and this is the sixth in his series of exclusive Space. com posts about amateur astronomy.
He contributed this article to Space. com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. On September 7 2013 Australian Terry Lovejoy using an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope discovered
what would be designated comet Lovejoy. During October the comet moved into the Northern hemisphere at a time of great excitement for comets in general as the stargazing community waited for The Comet of the Century:
the sun-grazing comet ISON. My own early attempts at seeing comet ISON were disappointing at best.
Weather and ISON's dimness left me frustrated and I decided to seek better brighter game.
That period reminded me of a time long ago when the world waited for the arrival of mighty comet Hale-Bopp C/1995 O1.
Many of us looked forward to Hale-Bopp's entrance onto the cosmic stage with great anticipation
when suddenly nearly a year before its arrival it was upstaged from out of nowhere by the majestic comet Hyakutake.
Comet Hyakutake taught me just how little we humans knew about the universe around us.
I remember those days sketching a star chart showing where to look for comet Hyakutake then throwing it on the ground as
I stepped out of my pickup truck at my dark sky site in Algoma Wisc. I stood there staring at the amazing specter of Hyakutake's tail stretching across the entire darkening sky.
It was then that I asked myself How did we not see this coming? Our science is great
First attempt November 13 2013 To me comet Lovejoy seemed Heaven sent. Brightening rapidly and well placed for photography in November last year it swiftly captured my attention.
I had an opportunity like this a near naked-eye comet and clearing skies. It would be an early morning comet
but that was a small sacrifice after years waiting for conditions like those. I was using an f9 5-inch apochromatic refractor on which
I made first contact with comet Lovejoy. Slewing my telescope (moving to aim at a point in the sky) I found the comet in a 2-inch-wide-angle eyepiece one that gave
me low power but a bright field of view. The eyepiece was a gift my mom had given me for my birthday the Christmas before (yes
Second attempt November 28 2013 The passing of truly great comets is an extremely rare thing.
It is my advice to the budding astrophotographer to never miss an opportunity to spend as much time as possible with these strange visitors from the distant Oort cloud.
Third attempt November 30 2013 Due to poor weather conditions nearly two weeks had elapsed between my first and second attempt at documenting comet Lovejoy's passing.
Only two days after my last outing with the beautiful comet I had another chance.
But comet Lovejoy displayed a beautiful color a greenish glow that could not be ignored. I favor refractors
My last hours with comet Lovejoy December 12 2013 The comet's final days were in December.
I had been reading online about the comet and viewing pictures and noticed a recurring theme in comments made by amateur astronomers.
Observers stated that they had seen a strange sparking in and around the comet's tail.
Comet Lovejoy C/2013 R1 Spotted by Stargazers If I braved the cold as I had done so many nights before perhaps it could be done in a wide-angle photograph worth a try
The comet was rather low in the east before dawn and I realized I would have to make good use of my time if
It was Geminid meteor season and the spark might have been just that but I have found from personal experience that meteor activity is often high
when a comet is in the sky. And this small spark of a meteor was apparently close to comet Lovejoy's tail.
A few hours later I fell sound asleep dreaming that perhaps I had done what I had set out to do.
I might never know for sure but in my heart I thought maybe so. I like to think I did!
and snow and those were to be my final hours spent with this beautiful comet.
what does live on are the memories of the shimmering stars and the graceful comet with the beautiful name playing with meteors before the sunrise.
Space. com is hosting a slideshow of Rogus'images. Rogus'most recent Op-Ed was As Saturn Slips Behind the Moon.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.
This version of the article was published originally on Space. com d
#Lose weight and Boost Nutrition with This Common Grain How often do you eat rice? It could be time to add some more of this grain to your diet.
According to NASA the first living creature in space was named a rhesus monkey Albert I. His launch took place in White sands New mexico on June 11 1948.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011