- Signs of the Times Archive for Wed, 27 Aug 2008 -



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U.S. News
Cannon Fodder: Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks

Susanne M. Schafer
Associated Press
2008-08-27 17:47:00

Army Prep School
©AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain
Army privates Austin Swarner, left, of Baton Rouge, La., Tony Brown, center, of Los Angeles, and Haelee Holden (cq), of Medford, Ore., are seen in a classroom at Fort Jackson, S.C.


Austin Swarner left high school to care for his mother while she fought a losing battle with cancer. Tony Brown wanted to begin supporting himself and left two classes shy of a diploma. Haelee Holden got tired of trying to make it through school while flipping burgers until 1 a.m.

But the U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, doesn't see them as dropouts. They are recruits who only need a GED before they're ready to begin basic training.

And so, the Army formally opens its first prep school Wednesday.

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ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors

Brian Ross
ABC News
2008-08-27 17:38:00

Eslocker arrest denver
©ABC News
Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown's Palace Hotel.


Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.

Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit.

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Internet buzz is as high as ever on "IMPEACH BUSH & CHENEY" as 2008 election draws to a close

Kevin Stoda
OpEdNews.com
2008-08-24 08:31:00

Even though media wonks and the Democratic Party leadership haven't got it yet, media consumers and internet users are JUST as interested as ever in seeing an impeachment of both George W. Bush and Richard (Dick) Cheney for crimes against the constitution and abuse of power.

Both YAHOO and GOOGLE SEARCH engines are showing as high (or higher) a number of hits on the topic of impeachment as they have throughout the past two years.

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'No evidence' of threat to Obama


BBC News
2008-08-27 00:42:00

Three men arrested on weapons and drugs charges in the US state of Colorado were not involved in a credible plan to kill Barack Obama, officials have said.

Link tovideo.

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ICE: Nearly 600 detained in Mississippi plant raid


Associated Press
2008-08-26 23:50:00

LAUREL - The largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history has caused panic among Hispanic families in this small southern Mississippi town, where federal agents rounded up nearly 600 plant workers suspected of being in the country illegally.


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UK & Euro-Asian News
Russia threatens military response to US missiles


Associated Press
2008-08-27 13:36:00

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning his country may respond to a U.S. missile shield in Europe through military means.

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Propaganda: Fifth arrest over Brown-Blair death threats

James Orr
The Guardian
2008-08-27 10:38:00

Postings to extremist websites were attributed to group calling itself al-Qaida in Britain

Detectives investigating internet threats to kill Gordon Brown and Tony Blair today arrested a fifth man.

The 29-year-old was detained in Derby. Four other men have been arrested in the last fortnight. All are aged in their 20s and are being held under the Terrorism Act 2006.

The threats were posted on an extremist website in January and were attributed to a previously unknown group calling itself al-Qaida in Britain.

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Epidemic threat to Serbs due to water shortage in Kosmet


EMportal
2008-08-25 08:46:00

Due to weeks-long water shortage in Majority Serb villages of Susica and Novi Badovac, in central Kosmet, there is the threat of epidemics and humanitarian catastrophe.

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Medvedev Seeks Support From China, Allies on Georgia

Alex Nicholson and Lyubov Pronina
Bloomberg
2008-08-27 06:40:00

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev meets his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao today as he seeks to muster support from Asian allies for Russia's recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions.

Medvedev will discuss ''key international issues'' with Hu and other leaders from the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, a Kremlin official said today by phone.

Russia's decision to unilaterally recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia yesterday drew condemnation from world leaders, with President George W. Bush asking Medvedev to ''reconsider this irresponsible decision.'' It would be ''logical'' for Medvedev to discuss the issue during two days of meetings in Dushanbe, the Kremlin official said.

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Why I had to recognise Georgia's breakaway regions

Dmitry Medvedev
Financial Times
2008-08-27 01:28:00

On Tuesday Russia recognised the independence of the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It was not a step taken lightly, or without full consideration of the consequences. But all possible outcomes had to be weighed against a sober understanding of the situation - the histories of the Abkhaz and Ossetian peoples, their freely expressed desire for independence, the tragic events of the past weeks and inter­national precedents for such a move.

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Flogging a Dead Horse: Britain's secret propaganda war against al-Qaida


The Guardian
2008-08-26 19:10:00

A Whitehall counter-terrorism unit is targeting the BBC and other media organisations as part of a new global propaganda push designed to "taint the al-Qaida brand", according to a secret Home Office paper seen by the Guardian.

The document also shows that Whitehall counter-terrorism experts intend to exploit new media websites and outlets with a proposal to "channel messages through volunteers in internet forums" as part of their campaign.

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Around the World
US Massacres Afghan Kids


The Nation
2008-08-27 17:19:00

So how, exactly, did the United States come to slaughter nearly a hundred Afghans, two-thirds of whom were children aged three months to sixteen years, while they slept? And what does it mean?

US officials say they're investigating, while staunchly maintaining that the raid killed twenty-five "militants." But Afghan officials, local residents, and the United Nations are counting scores of bodies, and it is feared that many more might be buried udner the rubble. (It's not unusual for American planes to bomb civilian gatherings and wedding parties in Afghanistan, but the many dead this time may represent the highest single toll in any atrocity since the start of the war.)


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U.S. holds American Boy Hostage As Leverage Over His Scientist Mother Accused of Being an "Al Qaeda" Agent


Reuters
2008-08-27 11:27:00

An 11-year-old boy detained with a Pakistani woman accused of trying to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan is believed to be her son, U.S. prosecutors said in a court letter obtained on Tuesday.

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Nuke deal with India is prime focus of US nuclear policy: Rice


The Economic Times
2008-08-26 09:03:00

US has said the Indo-US nuclear deal, whose fate now rests with the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, is currently the country's "principal focus" on the civil nuclear front.

Asked whether developments in Georgia will affect the US-Russia civilian nuclear deal, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the present focus of America's nuclear commerce policy was the India deal and not the one with Russia.

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Indian officials show anger toward NZ over nuke treaty

Michael Field
stuff.com.nz
2008-08-26 08:56:00

Continuing New Zealand attempts to block a major nuclear treaty between India and the United States are attracting increasingly hostile comments from officials in Delhi.

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The young master painting for Pisa

Christian Fraser
BBC News
2008-08-26 00:21:00

To step into the studio of artist Luca Battini is to step back in time.

Image
©Unknown
There has been fierce competition to appear in the fresco


It is a history lesson in how the great Renaissance painters created their masterpieces.

Mr Battini's front room looks more like a theatre set. There are models and costumes, sketches and scaffoldings and an extraordinary array of dyes, resins, varnishes and glues.

One of the models on his table is an action man fitted with real pigeon wings - it is the model he uses to paint his angels.

Luca paints as they did 700 years ago - he mixes his colours in the same way, laboriously grinding his powder on a large block of slate, he makes his own canvasses from linen and glue.

Now, the 37-year-old master is to combine all these ancient skills to take on the most ambitious project he has ever attempted - perhaps the most ambitious work of art Italy has seen in some time.

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Big Brother

No new articles.


Axis of Evil
Why was Cheney's guy in Georgia before the war?


LA Times
2008-08-27 17:16:00

What was a top national security aide to Vice President Dick Cheney doing in Georgia shortly before Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's troops engaged in what became a disastrous fight with South Ossetian rebels -- and then Russian troops?

Not, according to the vice president's office, what you might think -- if your thinking takes you into the realm of Cheney giving his blessing to the Georgian's military operation.

To be sure, Cheney has been a leader of the hardliners in the administration when it comes to standing up to Russia -- to the point that the man who ran the Pentagon as the Cold War came to an end during the administration of the first President Bush has been seen as ready to renew that face-off with Moscow.

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Let's talk about World War III

Nikolai Sokov
Asia Times
2008-08-27 13:40:00

It is time to seriously contemplate World War III. The most important elements are already in place. Just as so many experts on the Caucasus have predicted, the region has become a powder keg and the main source of great-power rivalry.

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Flashback: Monstrous Mockery: Pakistani neuroscientist was tortured for five years until one day was 'found' in Afghanistan by US authorities


Agence France-Presse
2008-08-05 14:43:00

Image
©Unknown
Aafia Siddiqui as she was before


A Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three, who is accused of Al-Qaeda links and shooting at US officers in Afghanistan, was due to face a New York court Tuesday in a case sparking protests in her homeland.

Aafia Siddiqui, 36, a Pakistani national, was to be arraigned on two charges of attempted murder and assault before a magistrate judge in Manhattan.

US officials paint Siddiqui as a desperate, highly dangerous figure arrested in Afghanistan on July 17, 2007, in possession of bomb-making instructions.

During questioning she allegedly seized a US officer's M-4 rifle and opened fire on her captors. She missed, and was subdued after being shot and wounded by another serviceman.

Image
©Unknown
Aafia Siddiqui as she is now 'thanks' to the US authorities


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Flashback: Pakistan's Enforced Disappearances - Amnesty International asks, "What is the Truth"?


Amnesty International
2008-07-22 20:00:00

The new government of Pakistan should immediately reveal details of where hundreds of missing people -- victims of enforced disappearances -- are being held, investigate all cases and hold to account those responsible, including the country's security and intelligence agencies, said Amnesty International in a report released today.

Hundreds of people who have "disappeared" are detained under counter-terrorism measures, justified by Pakistan as part of the U.S.-led war on terror.

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Flashback: What Happens to U.S. Troops Who Commit Mass Murder?


Revolution
2007-12-06 02:15:00

©uruknet.info



While U.S. atrocities in Iraq are generally covered up by the government, military, and mainstream media, there have been a few major incidents that have been impossible to keep completely hidden. In such cases, we may hear calls for an investigation or talk that some troops may get charged. But we rarely hear about what happens after that. Here is a look at three horrific war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Iraq, and what happened afterward to the troops involved.

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Middle East Madness
Israeli activist who sailed on protest boat to Gaza arrested

Ofri Ilani
Haaretz
2008-08-27 09:32:00

The Israeli peace activist Prof. Jeff Halper, who sailed to Gaza with other demonstrators from around the world Saturday, was arrested yesterday as he crossed into Israel from the Strip through the Erez crossing.

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U.S. Military Officers Executed Iraqis, Statements Say

Paul Von Zielbauer
New York Times
2008-08-27 08:01:00

In March or April 2007, three noncommissioned United States Army officers, including a first sergeant, a platoon sergeant and a senior medic, killed four Iraqi prisoners with pistol shots to the head as the men stood handcuffed and blindfolded beside a Baghdad canal, two of the soldiers said in sworn statements.

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Grand Theft Economics
FDIC may borrow money from Treasury: report

Sweta Singh and Erica Billingham
Reuters
2008-08-27 13:31:00

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department to see it through an expected wave of bank failures, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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Poli-Oligarchs

oekoman
OpEdNews.com
2008-08-25 09:12:00

Oligarchs
©yoism.org


Regardless of the redefinition of many political words into the latest Orwellian double speak, the real and unchangeable definition of a democracy is one in which the citizens freely elect members of the various branches of government to govern the nation through debate, deliberation and consensus in accordance with overarching principles established in a constitution forged by such citizens voluntarily acting together in the greater interest of all. Risking overstatement of the obvious, democracy is based upon the fundamental concept of self governance, realized through free and fair elections of representatives who serve at the pleasure of the people and who reflect equivalent percentages of numbers, values and opinions of the nation's voting citizenry, which vote is denied to none. Without self governance, the subsequent benchmarks of democracy are invalid; freedom, equality, justice, civil rights, pursuit of happiness, "of the people, by the people and for the people"; its all smoke and mirrors without a secure guarantee that the people have a right to self governance by freely electing their representatives. Most people understand this set of ideas.

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San Diego, US: Local House Prices Down 30 Percent from Peak

Kelly Bennett
Voice of San Diego
2008-08-27 06:47:00

Home prices in San Diego dropped again in June, reaching a point not seen since September 2003, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Index released Tuesday.

June's price index for resale houses fell 30 percent from the market's peak in November 2005. The overall index logged a 24 percent decline compared to June 2007. The lowest tier, homes priced lower than $363,772, registered a 33 percent decline compared to June 2007, the worst dip in the index.

The middle tier declined 24.4 percent compared to the June 2007 index. The high tier, homes priced higher than $535,657, declined nearly 16 percent year-over-year.

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On the US dollar rally: Diversionary tactics or simple coincidence?


MoneyWeek
2008-08-26 18:03:00

Something of note always happens, either in the financial markets or on the geopolitical stage, or both, when this particular writer leaves for vacation - on this occasion the lower slopes of another major force, Mount Etna on Sicily.

In fact, the past couple of weeks have been packed with incident and yet equity markets have proved relatively sanguine. Perhaps everybody is away on holiday, perhaps equity markets are genuinely much more immune to the periodic eruptions of bad news, having become quite used to them over the past twelve months or so. Whatever the reason, equity markets have appeared sanguine in the face of a paroxysm in the currency markets, further gyrations in global commodity prices, the Beijing Olympics and war in South Ossetia (coupled, more recently, with the signing of a military agreement between Poland and the USA). The obvious question is; are all these events linked in some way? If, as we attempt to reveal below, the answer is yes then it would seem prudent to encourage investors to remain wary until this particular tremor subsides.

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The Living Planet
Arctic sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record

Seth Borenstein and Dan Joling
Associated Press
2008-08-27 17:59:00

More ominous signs Wednesday have scientists saying that a global warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to be happening before their eyes: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its second lowest level in about 30 years.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice in the Arctic now covers about 2.03 million square miles. The lowest point since satellite measurements began in 1979 was 1.65 million square miles set last September.

With about three weeks left in the Arctic summer, this year could wind up breaking that previous record, scientists said.

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New Orleans mulls evacuation as Gustav looms

Kathy Finn
Reuters
2008-08-27 17:10:00

New Orleans -- Three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast, New Orleans residents on Wednesday again confronted the prospect of an evacuation as Tropical Storm Gustav loomed.

Image
©REUTERS/Evens Felix
A woman walks during rainfall caused by Hurricane Gustav in Port-au-Prince August 26, 2008.


Not since Katrina struck on August 29, 2005, have residents faced a forced departure from their homes and businesses as many still struggle to rebuild their lives in a city famed for its jazz clubs and Mardi Gras festival.

Storm levees broke under the onslaught of Katrina, flooding 80 percent of New Orleans and killing almost 1,500 people in the city and along the Gulf of Mexico coast. The hurricane caused $125 billion in wind and flood damage.

With Tropical Storm Gustav swirling near Cuba and likely to enter the Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane this weekend, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said an evacuation could begin as early as Friday -- three years to the day after Katrina inundated New Orleans.



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Earthquake Zone Off Oregon Coast Surprisingly Active


Science Daily
2008-08-27 14:48:00

Oregon State University scientists have completed a new analysis of an earthquake fault line that extends some 200 miles off the southern and central Oregon coast that they say is more active than the San Andreas Fault in California.

The Blanco Transform Fault Zone likely won't produce the huge earthquake many have predicted for the Pacific Northwest because it isn't a subduction zone fault. But the scientists say an earthquake of magnitude 6.5 to 7.0 is possible, if not probable in the near future, and their analysis suggests that the region may be under some tectonic stress that potentially could affect the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Results of the study were just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

During the past 40 years, there have been some 1,500 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater along the Blanco Transform Fault Zone, and many thousands of smaller quakes. The Blanco fault is the boundary between the Juan de Fuca and the Pacific plates. As the Juan de Fuca plate moves to the east, it is subducted beneath the North American plate at the rate of about 1.5 inches per year. But as it moves, it must break free of the adjacent Pacific plate.

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Is Extinction Or Diversity On The Rise? Study Of Islands Reveals Surprising Results


Science Daily
2008-08-27 13:55:00

It's no secret that humans are having a huge impact on the life cycles of plants and animals. UC Santa Barbara's Steven D. Gaines and fellow researcher Dov Sax decided to test that theory by studying the world's far-flung islands.

Image
©iStockphoto/Richard Goerg
In New Zealand, there were about 2,000 native species of plants, the researchers noted. Since colonization, about 2,000 new plant species have become naturalized. Over the same period, there have been few plant extinctions, so the net effect is that humans have transformed New Zealand's landscape by bringing in many new species.


Their research, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds surprising light on the subject of extinction rates of species on islands. The paper, "Species Invasions and Extinction: The Future of Native Biodiversity on Islands," is one in a series of reports by this team studying how humans have altered the ecosystems of the planet.

Gaines and Sax started the project with a question: What effect are humans really having on biological diversity? "The presumption at the time was that we are driving biodiversity to lower levels," said Gaines, who directs UCSB's Marine Science Institute. "Certainly, if you think about it at the global level, this is true because humans have done a lot of things that have driven species extinct."

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Hot And Cold: Circulation Of Atmosphere Affected Mediterranean Climate During Last Ice Age


Science Daily
2008-08-27 13:43:00

A new study published in the scientific journal Science reveals the circulation of the atmosphere over the Mediterranean during the last ice age, 23,000 to 19,000 years ago, and how this affected the local climate.

ice age
©National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
Cold polar air often invaded the Mediterranean region during the last ice age, causing more rain and snow to fall on Mediterranean mountains.


This innovative study paves the way for future interdisciplinary efforts to understand and predict regional climate change, and is co-authored by Professor Eelco Rohling of the University of Southampton School of Ocean and Earth Science, based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified the Mediterranean as a "future climate hot spot" likely to suffer increasingly from severe droughts, heat waves and wildfires, due to global climate change. This is potentially bad news for the many people who now live in the region.

The new work gives important clues about regional rainfall patterns in the past. This will help scientists check computer simulations of the Mediterranean climate, which is essential for predicting and planning for future climate in the region.

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10,000 Indian flood victims have entered Nepal for relief: Report


The Times of India
2008-08-25 08:48:00

Kathmandu: Around 10,000 flood victims from India have entered Nepal to seek relief material, being distributed in the Himalayan nation, according to a report. Over 60,000 people have been displaced and 500 industries face closure in Nepal due to spilling of river Saptakoshi.

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US: NY state says nuke plant kills too many fish

Jim Fitzgerald
newsday.com/Associated Press
2008-08-25 08:23:00

White Plains, N.Y. - The huge numbers of fish sucked to their death by the cooling system at the Indian Point nuclear plant prove that the system harms the Hudson River environment, a state official has ruled.

The finding by J. Jared Snyder, assistant commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, is a victory for plant critics who claim that up to 1.2 billion fish and eggs are killed each year as the plant continuously draws in river water for use as a coolant.


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Health & Wellness
How Diet, Antioxidants Prevent Blindness In Aging Population


Science Daily
2008-08-27 17:06:00

A new study reveals part of the magic behind a diet rich in antioxidants, showing how artichokes, blueberries and pecans can hold at bay the leading cause of age-related blindness in developed countries.

Image
©Brigham Young University


Researchers at Brigham Young University and Weill Medical College of Cornell University discovered a link between two processes in the retina that, in combination, contribute to a disease called macular degeneration. They found antioxidants disrupt the link and extend the lifetime of irreplaceable photoreceptors and other retinal cells.

"The implication is that people at risk of macular degeneration could help prevent the disease by consuming antioxidants," said Heidi Vollmer-Snarr, a BYU chemist who earned a doctorate from Oxford and began work on this disease as a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia.

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Trauma, PTSD Followed By Reduction In Region Of The Brain Involved With Memory


Science Daily
2008-08-27 14:58:00

While debate continues over the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, a new study indicates traumatic events and PTSD symptoms may be followed in some cases by a size reduction in a part of the brain called the hippocampus.

Though most attention surrounding PTSD focuses on war veterans, the advance by Brigham Young University researchers involved a larger population at risk: abused children.

"The size reduction in the hippocampus seems to occur sometime after the initial exposure to stress or trauma in childhood, strengthening the argument that it has something to do with PTSD itself or the stress exposure," said Dawson Hedges, a BYU neuroscientist and an author on the study.

The study appears in the August issue of the neuroscience journal Hippocampus, providing further evidence of a neurological component for this mental disorder.

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Exploring The Function Of Sleep


Science Daily
2008-08-27 14:53:00

Is sleep essential? Ask that question to a sleep-deprived new parent or a student who has just pulled an "all-nighter," and the answer will be a grouchy, "Of course!"

But to a sleep scientist, the question of what constitutes sleep is so complex that scientists are still trying to define the essential function of something we do every night. A study published this week in PLoS Biology by Chiara Cirelli and Giulio Tononi addresses this pressing question.

The search for the core function of sleep can seem as elusive as the search for the mythological phoenix, says Cirelli, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.

Some scientists argue that sleep is merely a way to impose a quiet, immobile state (rest), and isn't important by itself in mammals and birds. This is the so-called "null hypothesis," and Cirelli and Tononi reject it.

"We don't understand the purpose of sleep, but it must be important because all animals do it," Cirelli says.

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Rubber Hand Trick Reveals Brain-Body Link

Brandon Keim
Wired Science
2008-08-25 10:08:00

The rubber hand illusion is more than a vaguely creepy parlor trick. It's a window into relationship between our mental and physical self-conception.

rubberhand
©Wired


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Companies report 4 new deaths with diabetes drug

Matthew Perrone
Associated Press
2008-08-27 00:23:00

WASHINGTON - Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday reported four new deaths in patients taking Byetta, even as the companies tried to shore up the safety profile of their popular diabetes medication.

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Study findings from J.F. Decarvalho et al provide new insights into immunization


Medical Device Law Weekly
2008-08-26 21:11:00

According to recent research from Tel Hashomer, Israel, "The case reported refers to a patient who developed status epilepticus in the day of her third dose of hepatitis B vaccination and we review the literature on this subject. A 12 year-old girl, without a relevant previous history, taking no drugs, developed a seizure attack followed by unconsciousness, and eventually died after three days of her third dose of hepatitis B (HB) vaccination."

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Science & Technology
First Prehistoric Pregnant Turtle And Nest Of Eggs Discovered In Southern Alberta


Science Daily
2008-08-27 17:16:00

A 75-million-year-old fossil of a pregnant turtle and a nest of fossilized eggs that were discovered in the badlands of southeastern Alberta by scientists and staff from the University of Calgary and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology are yielding new ideas on the evolution of egg-laying and reproduction in turtles and tortoises.

Image
©Ken Bendiktsen


It is the first time the fossil of a pregnant turtle has been found and the description of this discovery was published today in the British journal Biology Letters.

The mother carrying the eggs was found in 1999 by Tyrrell staff while the nest of eggs was discovered in 2005 by U of C scientist Darla Zelenitsky, the lead author of the article and an expert on fossil nest sites, and her field assistant. Both were found about 85 km south of Medicine Hat in the Manyberries area.

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Clash Of Clusters Provides New Dark Matter Clue


Science Daily
2008-08-27 17:03:00

New Hubble and Chandra observations of the cluster known as MACSJ0025.4-1222 indicate that a titanic collision has separated dark from ordinary matter. This provides independent confirmation of a similar effect detected previously in a target dubbed the Bullet Cluster, showing that the Bullet Cluster is not an anomalous case.

Galaxy Cluster MACS J0025.4-1222
©NASA, ESA, CXC, M. Bradac (University of California, Santa Barbara), and S. Allen (Stanford University)
Hubble and Chandra Composite of the Galaxy Cluster MACS J0025.4-1222.


MACSJ0025 formed after an enormously energetic collision between two large clusters. Using visible-light images from Hubble, astronomers were able to infer the total mass distribution - dark and ordinary matter. Hubble was used to map the dark matter (coloured in blue) using a technique known as gravitational lensing.

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Bone Parts Don't Add Up To Conclusion Of Hobbit-like Palauan Dwarfs


Science Daily
2008-08-27 14:44:00

Misinterpreted fragments of leg bones, teeth and brow ridges found in Palau appear to be an archaeologist's undoing, according to researchers at three institutions. They say that the so-called dwarfs of these Micronesian islands actually were modern, normal-sized hunters and gatherers.

Image
©Jim Barlow
A close-up view of the teeth shows their size as well as betel staining -- a red byproduct of chewing betel, an Areca palm nut along with slaked lime and leaf of the Piper betel vine. Betel has slight stimulant and medicinal qualities.


Scientists from the University of Oregon, North Carolina State University and the Australian National University have refuted the conclusion of Lee R. Berger and colleagues that Hobbit-like little people once lived there.

"Our evidence indicates the earliest inhabitants of Palau were of normal stature, and it counters the evidence that Berger, et al, presented in their paper indicating there was a reduced stature population in early Palau," said University of Oregon anthropologist Greg C. Nelson. "Our research from whole bones and whole skeletons indicates that the earliest individuals in Palau were of normal stature but gracile. In other words, they were thin."

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New Space Telescope Reveals Entire Gamma-ray Sky


Science Daily
2008-08-27 14:07:00

NASA's Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) has revealed its first all-sky map in gamma rays. Scientists expect the telescope will discover many new pulsars in our own galaxy, reveal powerful processes near super-massive black holes at the cores of thousands of active galaxies and enable a search for signs of new physical laws.

Image
©NASA/DOE/International LAT Team
This all-sky view from GLAST reveals bright emission in the plane of the Milky Way (center), bright pulsars and super-massive black holes.


The onboard Large Area Telescope's (LAT) all-sky image - which shows the glowing gas of the Milky Way, blinking pulsars and a flaring galaxy billions of light-years away - was created using only 95 hours of "first light" observations, compared with past missions which took years to produce a similar image.

The NASA mission was made possible by collaboration with many U.S. and international partners. As part of its support for particle physics research, DOE contributed funding to the LAT - the primary instrument on GLAST - and DOE's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) managed the LAT construction. SLAC also played a key role in assembling the instrument and now plays the central role in LAT science operations, data processing and making scientific data available to collaborators for analysis.

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Secret Of Newborn's First Words Revealed


Science Daily
2008-08-27 14:03:00

A new study could explain why "daddy" and "mommy" are often a baby's first words - the human brain may be hard-wired to recognize certain repetition patterns.

Image
©iStockphoto/Aldo Murillo
A new study could explain why "daddy" and "mommy" are often a baby's first words -- the human brain may be hard-wired to recognize certain repetition patterns.


Using the latest optical brain imaging techniques, University of British Columbia post-doctoral fellow Judit Gervain and a team of researchers from Italy and Chile documented brain activities of 22 newborns (2-3 days old) when exposed to recordings of made-up words.

The researchers mixed words that end in repeating syllables - such as "mubaba" and "penana" - with words without repetition - such as "mubage" and "penaku." They found increased brain activities in the temporal and left frontal areas of the newborns' brain whenever the repetitious words were played. Words with non-adjacent repetitions ("bamuba" or "napena") elicited no distinctive responses from the brain.

"It's probably no coincidence that many languages around the world have repetitious syllables in their 'child words' - baby and daddy in English, papa in Italian and tata (grandpa) in Hungarian, for example," says Gervain from UBC Dept. of Psychology's Infant Studies Centre.

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Celestial happenings coming in September

David L. Richards
Ohio.com
2008-08-25 10:05:00

Saturn's ring system visible in September

You can look forward to two occultations in September.

At evening twilight on Sept. 12, the waxing gibbous moon occults Neptune. Starting about 8:42 p.m., the ice giant disappears behind the moon, and reappears about 9:47 p.m. Neptune is at magnitude 7.2, so you will need binoculars to observe this fairly rare event, in the constellation Capricorn.

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