Australian-German research finds world-first cure for deadly skin disease

Sydney, (IANS): Researchers from Australia and Germany have for the first time cured patients suffering from toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), a deadly skin disease, said a news release on Monday.

An international collaboration, including researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany, has developed the first-ever cure for TEN in a breakthrough study published in Nature, WEHI said in a news release on Monday.

Also known as Lyell's syndrome, TEN is a rare skin disease that causes widespread blistering and detachment of the skin and can lead to dehydration, sepsis, pneumonia and organ failure, Xinhua news agency reported.

The potentially deadly condition is triggered by a severe adverse reaction to common medications and has a mortality rate of approximately 30 per cent.

The new study identified a hyperactivation of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway - a chain of interactions between proteins in a cell that is involved in processes such as immunity, cell death and tumour formation - as a driver of TEN.

By using JAK inhibitors - an existing class of drugs used to treat inflammatory diseases - they were able to treat patients with TEN.

"Finding a cure for lethal diseases like this is the holy grail of medical research. I am beyond proud of this incredible research collaboration that has already helped to save the lives of multiple patients," Holly Anderton, an author of the study from WEHI, said.

"All seven people treated with this therapy in our study experienced rapid improvement and a full recovery, in staggering results that have likely unlocked a cure for the condition."

Researchers said they are hopeful the findings will pave the way for a clinical trial aimed at the approval of JAK inhibitors as a cure for TEN. Australian-German research finds world-first cure for deadly skin disease | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→November 13, 2024

Scientists Studying Crows Get Big Surprise –They’re So Smart They Understand the Concept of Zero

Chuck Homler, DBA Focus on Wildlife/CC license 4.0

Building on substantial evidence of crow consciousness, a German university has proven some crows can learn to recognize ‘zero’ as a counting unit. While that sounds ridiculous, zero is not nothing, rather it’s one of the most complex mathematical concepts devised—that something can and should represent nothing, not only as the base value, but as a placeholder. The work comes from the University of Tübingen in Germany, where professor Andreas Nieder works with carrion crows to perform intelligence tests. “The conception of “nothing” as number “zero” is celebrated as one of the greatest achievements in mathematics,” wrote Nieder in his paper. “We show that crows can grasp the empty set as a null numerical quantity that is mentally represented next to number one.” Exactly how this breakthrough was made is straightforward and did not involve birds watching Sesame Street. The crows were shown two sets of dots on a screen and were taught to indicate if the two screens had the same values. There could be between zero and four dots. Exactly as with 1, 2, 3, and 4—when the screens showed no dots, neurons in the crow’s brain demonstrated it was understanding this was a numeric value, but that it was a numeric value that contained nothing. Sometimes the crows made mistakes, often by thinking zero was in fact one, but it was rare they thought zero represented more than two. Counting Crows: It took human civilization at least until the 20th century BCE to firmly establish the empty or base value. At some point between the Akkadians and Old Babylonians, there was a symbol to represent a number was missing from a column, for example the 0 in 1,025 doesn’t mean the number is 26, it just means there are no hundreds in this number. As early as 1,770 the Egyptians were making hieroglyphs with the base value “nfr” from which began counting and distances. The ponderous Greeks never managed to capture the concept into their counting, language, or philosophy, meaning that as well as occasionally being smarter than a first grader, these “Counting Crows” were smarter in some ways than the Classical Greeks. Nieder contributed greatly to the current theory of animal consciousness, which is that it’s possible this highest level of thought isn’t necessarily bound to the presence of the cerebral cortex, a cranial region found only in primates, apes, and hominids. In an older experiment he trained two crows to peck at panels following a flash of blue light or red light, but Nieder made the task more difficult by changing the rules constantly, which required the crows to zoom out and look at the task as a whole, rather than simply assigning physical motions to a reward. He would change which light was assigned to which panel, and he would sometimes change the rules before the flash, and sometimes after the flash, constantly interrupting the birds’ base instructions. “These results suggest that the neural foundations that allow sensory consciousness arose either before the emergence of mammals or independently in at least the avian lineage and do not necessarily require a cerebral cortex,” wrote Nieder and the other authors in their corresponding paper published in Science.Scientists Studying Crows Get Big Surprise –They’re So Smart They Understand the Concept of Zero

Read More........→May 01, 2024

World's first 100% hydrogen-powered train now runs in Germany

Alstom, global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, on Wednesday announced the launch of the world’s first hydrogen powered train, the Coradia iLint, setting another historical milestone. The train has started plying on the world’s premiere 100 per cent hydrogen train route in Bremervörde, Lower Saxony, Germany, for passenger service. This regional train only emits steam and condensed water while operating with a low level of noise. Altom has developed 14 vehicles with fuel cell propulsion for Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG). LNVG had started looking for alternatives to diesel trains in 2012, providing the momentum for the development of the trains in Germany. Other project partners for this world debut are the Elbe-Weser railways and transport company (evb) and the gas and engineering company Linde. “Emission free mobility is one of the most important goals for ensuring a sustainable future and Alstom has a clear ambition to become the world leader in alternative propulsion systems for rail. The world’s first hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint, demonstrates our clear commitment to green mobility combined with state-of-the-art technology. We are very proud to bring this technology into series operation as part of a world premiere, together with our great partners,” said Henri Poupart-Lafarge, CEO and chairman of the board of Alstom. On the route between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude, 14 hydrogen-powered Alstom regional trains will be operated by evb on behalf of LNVG, gradually replacing 15 diesel trains. They will be fuelled daily and around the clock at the Linde hydrogen filling station. Thanks to a range of 1,000 kilometres, the Alstom multiple units of the Coradia iLint model, which are emission-free in operation, can run all day long on just one tank of hydrogen on the evb network. In September 2018, there had been a successful trial run of almost two years with two pre-series trains. “Emission free mobility is one of the most important goals for ensuring a sustainable future and Alstom has a clear ambition to become the world leader in alternative propulsion systems for rail. The world’s first hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint, demonstrates our clear commitment to green mobility combined with state-of-the-art technology,” Henri Poupart-Lafarge, CEO and chairman of the board of Alstom, said. “Despite numerous electrification projects in several countries, a significant part of Europe’s rail network will remain non-electrified in the long term. In many countries, the number of diesel trains in circulation is still high, with more than 4,000 cars in Germany, for instance,” he pointed out. Alstom currently has four contracts for hydrogen fuel cell powered regional trains. Two are in Germany, the first for 14 Coradia iLint trains in the region of Lower Saxony, and the second for 27 Coradia iLint trains in the Frankfurt metropolitan area. The third contract comes from Italy where Alstom is building 6 Coradia Stream hydrogen trains in the region of Lombardy – with the option for 8 more, while the fourth is in France for 12 Coradia Polyvalent hydrogen trains shared across four different French regions. Furthermore, the Coradia iLint has been successfully tested in Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden to name a few. The Coradia iLint is the world’s first passenger train to run on a hydrogen fuel cell that generates electrical energy for propulsion. This completely emission-free train is quiet and emits only water vapour and condensation. The Coradia iLint features several innovations: clean energy conversion, flexible energy storage in batteries, and intelligent management of motive power and available energy. Specifically developed for use on non-electrified lines, it enables clean, sustainable train operation while maintaining high performance. On evb’s network, the train travels at speeds of 80 to 120, with a maximum speed of 140 kilometres per hour. The iLint was designed by Alstom teams in Salzgitter (Germany), its centre of excellence for regional trains, and in Tarbes (France), centre of excellence for traction systems. The project benefits from the support of the German government and the development of the Coradia iLint was funded as part of the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP) by the German government. The Coradia iLint is the 2022 German Sustainability Design Award recipient. The award recognises technical and social solutions that are particularly effective in driving the transformation to sustainable products, production, consumption, or lifestyle in line with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. The Linde facility in Bremervörde contains sixty-four 500-bar high-pressure storage tanks with a total capacity of 1,800 kg, six hydrogen compressors and two fuel pumps. The use of hydrogen as a fuel for trains noticeably reduces the burden on the environment, as one kg of hydrogen replaces approximately 4.5 litres of diesel fuel. A later hydrogen production on site by means of electrolysis and regeneratively generated electricity is planned; corresponding expansion areas are available.The project is funded by the federal ministry of digital affairs and transport as part of the National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Programme. The federal government is contributing 8.4 million euros to the costs of the vehicles and 4.3 million euros to the costs of the filling station. The funding directive is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Project Management Julich (PtJ). Source: https://www.domain-b.com/

Read More........→February 17, 2023

Coronavirus can enter the brain through the nose: A study claimed

By : Sentinel Digital Desk | 2 Dec 2020 11:29 AM Berlin: A study conducted by researchers from Charite-Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Germany claimed that the novel coronavirus can enter people's brains through their nose. The study was published in the journal 'Nature Neuroscience'. And at this time, the importance of this study is believed to be huge as with the help of the findings of the study it will now be possible to find out why neurological symptoms are observed in patients during Covid-19 disease and how to treat them. Also Read - Indonesia: Thousands evacuated as volcano erupts According to the study published in the journal 'Nature Neuroscience', SARS-COV-2 affects not only the respiratory system but also the central nervous system (CNS) causing different neurological symptoms such as snoring, loss of taste recognition, headaches, fatigue, and dizziness, etc. The researchers at the University of Charite, Germany examined the nasopharynx -- the upper part of the throat that connects to the nasal cavity -- a likely first site of viral infection and replication, and the brains of 33 patients -- 22 males and 11 females -- who died with COVID-19. Also Read - PDM's fifth power show calls for Imran Khan's ouster Although the latest study has described the presence of viral Ribonucleic acid (RNA) and 'cerebrospinal fluid' in the brain. However, it is unclear where the virus enters and how it spreads. According to a media report, the researchers said, "The study included 33 patients who died of Covid-19. 11 of them were female and 22 were male. And the average age of those who died was 71.6 years. On the other hand, the average time from symptoms of Covid-19 to their death was 31 days." Also Read - Kazakhstan's bodybuilder Yuri Tolochko married his girlfriend, a sex doll They have found SARS-COV-2 RNA (the genetic material of the virus) and proteins in the brain and respiratory tract. they added. The highest levels of viral RNA were found in the olfactory mucous membrane. The olfactory mucosa is located in the upper region of the nasal cavity and is made up of the olfactory epithelium, they added. Source: https://www.sentinelassam.com

Read More........→December 02, 2020

Healthy sex reduces migraines by 80 pc!

Many people suffer from the unbearable pain of migraine. Many people do not have the condition to move the neck and head in pain. Migraine headaches can be caused mainly by anxiety or climate change.

Medications or rules provide temporary relief from this pain, but it reappears after a while. However, this time the researchers found a cure for migraine pain. According to them, healthy sex can reduce the risk of migraines.

Researchers from the Department of Neurology at the University of Münster in Germany recently published a report in Cephalalgia, The Journal of the International Headache Society. There, the experimental results of the scientists and some statistics are published. They claim that regular healthy sex has a direct effect on the hypothalamus of the brain. It can reduce the pain of migraines by about 80 percent.

Researchers studied 350 migraine sufferers in New York for almost two years. One group is advised to have sex with their partner. The other team was deprived of that opportunity. Over time, about 75 percent of those who have had regular sex have recovered from migraine headaches. In the days since the onset of migraine pain, three out of every five people have been released from the pain.

Researchers have also explained that matter. According to them, endorphin hormones are dripped by the body's central nervous system during healthy and normal sexual intercourse. One of the Phil Good hormones, this hormone is also good at relieving pain. In addition to prolonging the 'feel good' factor, this hormone is stronger than the painkiller morphine. As a result, both the mind and the body are affected and the pain goes away. So have a healthy sex regular, stay free from migraine problem. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com/

Read More........→July 26, 2020

Bionic kangaroo produces its own energy, human gestures control every move

© Photo: Voice of Russia

A bionic kangaroo has been built and is producing its own energy. Festo, a German automation firm, has made the robotic animal listen to human gestures in order for it to move about. The robotic creature stores up and uses the kinetic energy from its own movements.

Weighing in at 15.4 pounds and topping off at about three feet, three inches tall the robot does not move as swiftly as its natural-born counterpart. Inventors took more than two years to develop the tech animal, with its body parts consisting of elastic tendons, pneumatics and servos to create enough energy to hop about as the animal's signature move. Inside of each leg is a pneumatic cylinder paired with an elastic tendon. When the robotic creature is switched on, the tendons are already pre-tensed and the robot leans forward in turn shifting its center of gravity. The creature's pneumatic cylinders release the tendons only once the perfect angle with the best velocity is achieved—then the robot jumps into the air. Moving the legs forward and lifting the tail are servos. It converts the kinetic energy from the jump into stored energy
when it executes its landing. In addition to the robotic kangaroo being able to generate its own energy, it uses lithium polymer rechargeable batteries, which can be taken out of the kangaroo to be charged up. Gesture-controlled, the team installed the robot with a Bluetooth device where it can communicate with the robot using a special bracelet, according to an article on cnet.com.au. The BionicKangaroo will not be made available for commercial use. This creation is rather a proof-of-concept that shows off how pneumatic and electric drive tech can come together to produce energy to both recover and store in the robot. Festo has created a short video for viewers to watch and see how the robotic kangaroo works in action. The short clip, which last for about three minutes, proves just how far technology has come. The video of the new creation can be viewed below, and can also be watched on Festo.com or YouTube. Source: http://sputniknews.com/

Read More........→June 09, 2016

Gravitational waves detected for the first time

Credits: R. Hurt/Caltech-JPL

In a historical scientific landmark, researchers have announced the first detection of gravitational waves, as predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity 100 years ago. This major discovery opens a new era of astronomy.

For the first time, scientists have directly observed "ripples" in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos. The observation was made at 09:50:45 GMT on 14th September 2015, when two black holes collided. However, given the enormous distance involved and the time required for light to reach us, this event actually occurred some 1.3 billion years ago, during the mid-Proterozoic Eon. For context, this is so far back that multicellular life here on Earth was only just beginning to spread. The signal came from the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, in the rough direction of (but much further away than) the Magellanic Clouds. The two black holes were spinning together as a binary pair, turning around each other several tens of times a second, until they eventually collided at half the speed of light. These objects were 36 and 29 times the mass of our Sun. As their event horizons merged, they became one – like two soap bubbles in a bath. During the fraction of a second that this happened, three solar masses were converted to gravitational waves, and for a brief instant the event hit a peak power output 50 times

The gravitational waves were detected by both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, USA. The LIGO Observatories are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT. The discovery was published yesterday in the journal Physical Review Letters.

that of the entire visible universe. Prof. Stephen Hawking told BBC News: "Gravitational waves provide a completely new way of looking at the Universe. The ability to detect them has the potential to revolutionise astronomy. This discovery is the first detection of a black hole binary system and the first observation of black holes merging. Apart from testing General Relativity, we could hope to see black holes through the history of the Universe. We may even see relics of the very early Universe during the Big Bang at some of the most extreme energies possible." "There is a Nobel Prize in it – there is no doubt," said Prof. Karsten Danzmann, from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany, who collaborated on the study. In an interview with the BBC, he claimed the significance of this discovery is on a par with the determination of the structure of DNA. "It is the first ever direct detection of gravitational waves; it's the first ever direct detection of black holes and it is a confirmation of General Relativity because the property of these black holes agrees exactly with what Einstein predicted almost exactly 100 years ago." "We found a beautiful signature of the merger of two black holes and it agrees exactly – fantastically – with the numerical solutions to Einstein equations ...

LIGO measurement of gravitational waves at the Hanford (left) and Livingston (right) detectors, compared to the theoretical predicted values.By Abbott et al. [CC BY 3.0]

it looked too beautiful to be true." "Scientists have been looking for gravitational waves for decades – but we’ve only now been able to achieve the incredibly precise technologies needed to pick up these very, very faint echoes from across the universe," said Danzmann. "This discovery would not have been possible without the efforts and the technologies developed by the Max Planck, Leibniz Universität, and UK scientists working in the GEO collaboration." Researchers at the LIGO Observatories were able to measure tiny and subtle disturbances the waves made to space and time as they passed through the Earth, with machines detecting changes just fractions of the width of an atom. At each observatory, the two-and-a-half-mile (4-km) long L-shaped LIGO interferometer uses laser light split into two beams that travel back and forth along tubes kept at a near-perfect vacuum. The beams are used to monitor the distance between mirrors precisely positioned at the ends of the arms. According to Einstein’s theory, the distance between the mirrors will change by an infinitesimal amount when gravitational waves pass by the detector. A change in the lengths of the arms smaller than one-ten-thousandth the diameter of a proton can be detected; equivalent to a human hair's diameter over three light years from Earth. "The Advanced LIGO detectors are a tour de force of science and technology, made possible by a truly exceptional international team of technicians, engineers, and scientists," says David Shoemaker of MIT. "We are very proud that we finished this NSF-funded project on time and on budget." "We spent years modelling the gravitational-wave emission from one of the most extreme events in the universe: pairs of massive black holes orbiting with each other and then merging. And that’s exactly the kind of signal we detected!" says Prof. Alessandra Buonanno, director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam. "With this discovery, we humans are embarking on a marvellous new quest: the quest to explore the warped side of the universe – objects and phenomena that are made from warped spacetime," says Kip Thorne, Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech. "Colliding black holes and gravitational waves are our first beautiful examples." Advanced LIGO is among the most sensitive instruments ever built. During its next observing stage, it is expected to detect five more black hole mergers and to detect around 40 binary star mergers each year, in addition to an unknown number of more exotic gravitational wave sources, some of which may not be anticipated by current theory. Source: Futurtimeline.net

Read More........→February 15, 2016

A Deep Look Into A Single Molecule

Credit: PTB

The quantum state of a molecular ion has been measured live and in a non-destructive fashion for the first time. The interaction of thermal energy from the environment with motional degrees of freedom is well known and often referred to as Brownian motion (also thermal motion). But in the case of polar molecules, the internal degrees of freedom - in particular the rotational quantum state - are also influenced by the thermal radiation. So far, the detection of the rotational state was only possible by destroying the molecule. However, a German research group has now demonstrated the first implementation of a non-destructive state detection technique for molecular ions. Piet Schmidt and his colleagues from the QUEST-Institute at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) observed changes in the rotational state of a trapped and indirectly cooled molecular ion in real time and in situ. This technique enables novel spectroscopy methods with applications ranging from chemistry to tests of fundamental physics. The results are published in the current issue of "Nature". Basic concept of the experiment: MgH+ (orange) and Mg+ (green) are trapped together in a linear ion trap. The two-ion compound is cooled to the motional ground state via the atomic ion. An oscillating dipole force changes the motional state according to the rotational state of the molecular ion. This motional excitation can be detected on the atomic ion.  Nowadays atoms can be manipulated with lasers and their spectral features can be investigated with high precision e.g. in optical clocks. In these experiments state detection plays a crucial role: the fluorescence of an atom under illumination with laser light reveals its internal quantum state. Many atoms and most molecules, however, do not fluoresce at all. Therefore, one of the standard procedures for state detection in molecules exploited the fact that molecules can be broken apart with laser light of a certain frequency, depending on their quantum state. This lets one measure the quantum state of the molecule by destroying it. Of course this detection procedure can only be applied once per molecule. Project leader Piet Schmidt has a long experience of systems in which state detection is difficult to achieve. He was involved in the development of 'quantum logic spectroscopy' in the research group of Nobel laureate David J. Wineland and extended it with his own research team to 'photon recoil spectroscopy'. Typical detection signal, where a quantum jump into the (J=1)-rotational state (from red to blue area) and a subsequent jump out of this state (blue to red) can be seen All of these novel

Credit: PTB

spectroscopy techniques are based on a common principle: beside the ion under investigation, one traps a second ion of a different species that is controllable and whose fluorescence can be used for state detection. Because of their electrical repulsion, both particles behave as if they were connected by a strong spring, such that their motion is synchronized. This is how the measurement of one particle can reveal properties of the other particle. Schmidt and his colleagues use a molecular MgH+-ion (which is the subject of the investigation) and an atomic Mg+-ion (on which the measurements will be performed). They hold both particles with electric fields in an ion trap. Then, lasers are used to cool the particles' motion to the ground state, where the synchronous motion almost comes to rest. The new trick demonstrated in this experiment relies on an additional laser, whose action is similar to an optical tweezer. It can be used to exert forces on the molecule. "The laser shakes the molecule only if the molecule is in one particular rotational state" explains Fabian Wolf, physicist in Schmidt's research group "We can detect the effect¬ -which is an excitation of the common motion of the molecule and the atom- on the atomic ion by using additional lasers. If the atom lights up, the molecule was in the state we probed. If it stays dark, the molecule was in some other state." Piet Schmidt highlights two main results of the team's findings: "Because of the non-destructive nature of our technique, we could observe the molecule jumping from one rotational state to the other. It is the first time such quantum jumps have been observed directly in an isolated molecule. Moreover, we could improve on the uncertainty of a transition frequency to an electronically excited state". He also points towards future goals: "The next step is the systematic preparation of the molecule in that quantum state instead of waiting for the thermal radiation to randomly prepare it." The researchers feel confident that their development will be important for the scientific communities that need precise methods for spectroscopy, e.g. quantum chemistry, where the inner structure of molecules is investigated, or astronomy, where spectra of cold molecules can teach us new things about the origin and the properties of the universe. Furthermore, precision molecular spectroscopy is important for the search for a variation of the fundamental constants and so far hidden properties of fundamental particles, such as the electric dipole moment of the electron. These tests of fundamental physics were Schmidt's original motivation for working on the novel detection technique."To make these applications practical, we have to push molecular spectroscopy to a level similar to that of today's optical clocks based on atoms", says Piet Schmidt, when he gets asked for his long term goal, "For this purpose we have to improve our measurement resolution by orders of magnitude, which for sure will take several years". Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/

• Contacts and sources: Prof. Dr. Piet O. Schmidt
• QUEST-Institute at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)
• Citation: F. Wolf, Y. Wan, J.C. Heip, F. Gebert, C. Shi, P.O. Schmidt: Non-destructive state detection for quantum logic spectroscopy of molecular ions. Nature (2016), DOI: 10.1038/nature16513

Read More........→February 15, 2016

Genes for longer and healthier life identified

From a 'haystack' of 40,000 genes in three different organisms, scientists have found genes that are involved in physical aging. If you influence only one of these genes, the healthy lifespan of laboratory animals is extended – and possibly that of humans, too.

Driven by the quest for eternal youth, humankind has spent centuries obsessed with the question of how exactly it is that we age. With advancements in molecular genetics in recent decades, the search for genes involved in the aging process has greatly accelerated. Until now, this was mostly limited to genes of individual model organisms such as the C. elegans nematode, which revealed that around 1% of its genes could influence life expectancy. However, researchers have long assumed that such genes arose during the course of evolution and in all living beings whose cells preserved a nucleus – from yeast to humans. Researchers at ETH Zurich and the JenAge consortium in Germany have now systematically gone through the genomes of three different organisms in search of the genes associated with the aging process that are present in all three species – and thus, derived from a common ancestor. Although they are found in different organisms, these so-called orthologous genes are closely related to each other, and they are all found in humans, too. To detect them, researchers examined around 40,000 genes in the nematode C. elegans, zebra fish and mice. By screening them, the scientists wanted to determine which genes are regulated in an identical manner in all three organisms in each comparable aging stage: young, mature and old. As a measure of gene activity, they recorded the amount of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules found in the cells of these animals. mRNA is the transcript of a gene and the blueprint of a protein. When there are many copies of an mRNA of a specific gene, it is very active; the gene is said to be "upregulated". Fewer mRNA copies, to the contrary, are regarded as a sign of low activity. From this information, the researchers used statistical models to establish an intersection of genes that were regulated in the same manner in the worms, fish and mice. This showed that the three organisms have only 30 genes in common that significantly influence the aging process. 

From left to right: C. elegans nematode, zebra fish and mouse. Credit: Bob Goldstein [CC BY-SA 3.0]

By conducting experiments in which the mRNA of the corresponding genes were selectively blocked, the researchers pinpointed their effect on the aging process in nematode worms. With a dozen of these genes, blocking them extended the lifespan by at least five percent. One of these genes proved to be particularly influential: the bcat-1 gene. "When we blocked the effect of this gene, it significantly extended the mean lifespan of the nematode by up to 25 percent," says Professor Michael Ristow, coordinating author of the recently published study and Professor of Energy Metabolism at ETH. When the gene activity of bcat-1 was inhibited, branched-chain amino acids accumulated in the tissue, triggering a molecular signalling cascade that increased longevity. Moreover, the timespan during which the worms remained healthy was extended. As a measure of vitality, the researchers observed the accumulation of aging pigments, the speed at which the creatures moved, and how often the nematodes successfully reproduced. All of these parameters improved markedly. Professor Ristow has no doubt that the same mechanism occurs in humans: "We looked only for the genes that are conserved in evolution and therefore exist in all organisms including humans," he says. A follow-up study is already planned. "However, we can't measure the life expectancy of humans for obvious reasons," he adds. Instead, they plan to incorporate various health parameters, such as cholesterol or blood sugar levels in their study to obtain indicators on the health status of their subjects. Multiple branched-chain amino acids are already being used to treat liver damage and also feature in sports nutrition products. This follow-up study will deliver new and important indicators on how the aging process could be influenced and how age-related diseases might be prevented. "However, the point is not for people to grow even older – but rather, to stay healthy for longer," the researchers argue. Given the unfavourable demographics and steadily increasing life expectancy, it is important to extend the healthy life phase – or "healthspan" – and not to simply reach an even higher age that is characterised by chronic diseases. With such preventive measures, elderly people could greatly improve their quality of life, while at the same time cutting their healthcare costs by more than half. Source: http://www.futuretimeline.net

Read More........→January 17, 2016

Zen Meditation Improves Sense of Touch: Mental States Induce Neuroplasticity and Learning

Credit: Wikipedia

A study conducted with experienced scholars of Zen-Meditation shows that mental focussing can induce learning mechanisms, similar to physical training. Researchers at the Ruhr-University Bochum and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University München discovered this phenomenon during a scientifically monitored meditation retreat. The journal “Scientific Reports”, from the makers of “Nature”, has now published their new findings on the plasticity of the brain. 

• Participants of the study use a special meditation technique: The participants were all Zen-scholars with many years of meditation practice. They were scientifically escorted during a four-day Zen-retreat in the spiritual center “Benediktushof”, Germany. The retreat was held in complete silence, with at least eight hours of meditation per day. All participants practiced their familiar meditation, which is characterized by a non-specific monitoring of thoughts and surroundings. Additionally, some participants applied a special finger-meditation for two hours per day, during which they were asked to specifically focus on their right index finger and become aware of spontaneously arising sensory percepts in this finger. Subsequent assessment of the group that practiced finger-meditation showed a significant improvement in the tactile acuity of the right index and middle finger. A control group that had maintained their familiar meditation practice for the whole time, showed no changes in tactile acuity.
• Data show significant improvement of the sense of touch: In order to assess the sense of touch quantitatively, researchers measured the so-called “two-point discrimination threshold”. This marker indicates how far apart two stimuli need to be, in order to be discriminated as two separate sensations. After the finger meditation, the performance improved on average by 17 percent. By comparison, tactile acuity of the visually impaired is 15 to 25 percent above that of typical sighted individuals, because their sense of touch is used so intensively to make up for the reduced visual information. Hence, the changes induced by meditation are comparable to those achieved by intense long-term training.
• Meditation induces plasticity and learning processes as active training or physical stimulation: It is known for long that extensive training induces neuroplasticity, which denotes the ability of the brain to adapt and restructure itself, thereby improving perception and behavior. Recently, the group of neuroscientists of the Neural Plasticity Lab headed by Hubert Dinse has shown that these processes can be initiated even without training by mere exposure to passive stimulation, which was translated only recently into a stimulating glove, which is used as therapeutical intervention in stroke patients. The fact that merely mental states without any physical stimulation can improve perception has now been shown for the first time. “The results of our study challenge what we know about learning mechanisms in the brain. Our concept of neuroplasticity must be extended, because mental activity seems to induce learning effects similar to active stimulation and physical training,” Dinse suggests.
• Funding: The study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, SFB 874), the BMBF, Bernstein Focus State Dependencies of Learning and supported by the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and the Willigis-Jäger Stiftung West-Östliche Weisheit.
• Contacts and sources: Hubert R. Dinse, Neural Plasticity Lab, Institut for Neural Computation, Ruhr-University Bochum, Citation: Philipp ST, Kalisch T, Wachtler T, Dinse HR (2015) Enhanced tactile acuity through mental states. Sci. Rep. 5,13549; doi: 10.1038/srep13549. Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/

Read More........→September 15, 2015

Shhh! Your baby learning in sleep too

© Flickr.com/ robscomputer/cc-by-2.0

London: While infants sleep, they are reprocessing what they have learnt during the day, a study has found. Working with researchers from the University of Tubingen, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany discovered that babies of the age from nine to 16 months remember the names of objects better if they had a short nap. And only after sleeping can they transfer the learnt names to similar new objects. The infant brain thus forms general categories during sleep, converting experience into knowledge. The results show that sleep significantly affects memory organisation even in the infant brain - and at a time when memory is growing on a massive scale. "The waking infant brain quickly forgets newly-learnt names, but during sleep, words are more durably linked to objects and imprinted," said Angela Friederici, director at Max Planck Institute. The researchers also showed that the formation of categories is closely related to a typical rhythmic activity of the sleeping brain called "sleep spindles". Infants with high "sleep spindle" activity are particularly good at generalising their experiences and developing new knowledge while sleeping. In order to study the impact of sleep on infant memory, the team invited parents to attend a study with their nine to 16-month-old children. During the training session, the infants were repeatedly shown images of certain objects while hearing the fictitious names assigned to the objects. One group of infants spent the next one to two hours sleeping in their prams while the others remained awake. While the group who had stayed awake had forgotten the names of the individual objects, the children in the sleep group remembered the object-word mappings. "The infants who slept after the training session assigned new objects to the names of similar-looking objects," said Manuela Friedrich of the Max Planck Institute. They were not able to do that before their nap, and nor were the ones who stayed awake able to do it. "This means that the categories must have been formed during sleep," Friedrich noted. Source: ummid.com

Read More........→August 12, 2015

Soon, your smartphone can tell if you are pregnant

Berlin, July 2Small add-on devices could allow your smartphone to take pregnancy tests or monitor diabetes, scientists say. Researchers at the Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT), University of Hanover, Germany, have developed a self-contained fibre optic sensor for smartphones with the potential for use in a wide variety of biomolecular tests, including those for detecting pregnancy or monitoring diabetes. According to the researchers, the readings of the sensor can run through an application on a smartphone which provide real-time results. When properly provisioned, the smartphone user has the ability to monitor multiple types of body fluids, including blood, urine, saliva, sweat or breath. In case of medical applications, the sensor readings can be combined with the GPS signal of a smartphone and users can then be guided to the next drug store, hospital or the ambulance, the researchers said. The sensor uses the optical phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) - which occurs when light causes electrons on the surface of a thin film to jostle - to detect the composition of a liquid or the presence of particular biomolecules or trace gases. "We have the potential to develop small and robust lab-on-a-chip devices for smartphones. So, surface plasmon resonance sensors could become ubiquitous now," said Kort Bremer, co-author of the new study with Bernhard Roth, director, Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT), University of Hanover. Surface plasmon resonance is a phenomenon commonly used for biosensing, but typically requires bulky lab equipment involving both a light detector and light source. Smartphones already have both of these, allowing the minimalist, U-shaped device the researchers designed to consist solely of a 400-micrometre diameter core multimode fibre with a silver-coated sensing region. In a proof-of-concept version of the sensor, Bremer carefully excised the polymer coating from a 10 millimetre segment of the optics cable to expose the bare 400 micrometre diameter glass fibre core. He then cleaned the segment, subjected it to a silver-coating process, added a small well in which to pour the solutions being observed, and polished both ends of the fibre to 45 degree angled faces. They were then adhered to the phone's case and, thus, to its LED and camera, the latter of which was affixed with a diffraction grating to separate the light beam into an emission spectrum. In subsequent experiments, the device's sensitivity was tested using various concentrations of glycerol, and the team confirmed it was on par with current equipment, at a fraction of the cost and size. The study was published in Optics Express, a journal of The Optical Society. — PTI. Source: Article

Read More........→July 18, 2015

World’s First Time-controlled Molecular Self-Organization

Credit: National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)

Technologies Division) developed a method for preprogramming the timing of molecules to initiate self-organization by mixing molecules with modified side chains.  (a) Previously reported porphyrin molecule 1; (b) two kinds of self-organization in which porphyrin molecule 1 is able to take part. A particulate structure is formed early, but that disappears with time and then a fibrous structure is formed; (c) self-organization involving molecule 1 to form a fibrous structure begins in about four hours The results of this research will be published in the German Chemical Society’s journal “Angewandte Chemie International Edition” in the near future. Molecular self-organization is widely observed in nature, and is a critical phenomenon in terms of developingsystems that perform complex functions as seen in such natural mechanisms as photosynthesis and neurocircuits. Attempts have been made to develop new materials capable of executing advanced functions using the principle behind the phenomenon of molecular self-organization. However, due to the spontaneous nature of molecular self-organization, it is extremely difficult to control the phenomenon by design. In particular, almost no research had been conducted to control the timing of the self-organization phenomenon including control of when to initiate it. Recently, they conducted research using a molecule that can form two types of self-organized structures. One type of the self-organized structures was quickly formed but was energetically unstable; therefore, after a certain period of time elapsed, the other type of the self-organized structures, which was energetically more stable, was eventually formed. By modifying the side chains of the molecule, thereby inverting the energy stability levels between the two types of self-organized structures, researchers were able to synthesize a new type of molecule that only forms the former self-organized structure. By changing the mixing ratios between the original and new molecules, they succeeded for the first time in the world in controlling the timing at which an energetically stable self-organized structure begins to form. Controlling such timing is similar to the mechanism behind the biological clock in organisms from the viewpoint that in both cases, such time-controlling process is carried out by a network of molecules consisting of several chemical species. Self-organization is a vital concept in diverse fields such as materials science, nanotechnology and biotechnology, and is attracting much attention as a new method of synthesizing materials. By applying the method we developed in this research, we intend to develop advanced systems that are capable of emitting light or changing electrical conductivity at desirable timings. In the future, we hope to develop smart materials that autonomously function corresponding to the passing of time, like biomolecular systems do. This research was funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science’s grant-in-aid for scientific research on innovative areas, “dynamical ordering of biomolecular systems for creation of integrated functions” (Koichi Kato, Project Leader, National Institutes of Natural Sciences), and “π-system figuration” (Takanori Fukushima, Project Leader, Tokyo Institute of Technology). Contacts and sources: National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) Citation: (S. Ogi, T. Fukui, M. L. Jue, M. Takeuchi, K. Sugiyasu, Article title: “Kinetic control over pathway complexity in supramolecular polymerization through modulating the energy landscape by rational molecular design” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201407302). Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/

Read More........→December 29, 2014

Venus Fly Trap -- Medicine?

Scientists have found that the Venus Fly Trap is a potential source of treatment for cancer, mainly skin cancer. Venus Fly Trap extract is used in a mixture called Carnivora, which is the compound that can "cure":

• Skin cancer
• Colitis
• Crohn's disease
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sclerosis,
• Neurodermatitis
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• HIV
• and multiple types of herpes

Amongst these diseases are not only deadly and fatal, but also common diseases that affect large majorities of people. The use of Venus Fly Trap Extract started in 1970, where a German physician used its contents on Cancerous cells to determine whether it could "digest" the abnormal cells. Later on, a formula called Carnivora was created, potentially "curing" Cancer. Today, scientists find that Venus Fly Trap Extract is not only used for Cancer, but other diseases as well. In fact, scientists have tested the enzymes and the chemicals within the plant that helps to break down the cancerous proteins in tumors. However, Carnivora is considered by law, incomplete. There are plenty of unknown side effects that may

Advertisement for the Carnivora formula

occur. The FDA, or the Food and Drug Administration does not approve the use of  Carnivora, unless the patient requires or asks of it. The Venus Fly Trap Extract has been used and successfully tested on animal subjects, but it is still dangerous and requires more scientific research, after all, it is considered a toxin. For more information about Venus Fly Trap Extract usage, click here. The Venus Fly Trap Extract is used to cure cancer, thus, it is important for humans to preserve this magnificent plant in order for its use to continue. Moreover, if the Venus Fly Trap is gone, then it will affect the ecosystem in the region, for it is only found here on the eastern coast of America. Source: Article

Read More........→September 20, 2014

Scientist suggests Starbucks analyze brainwaves to calculate best coffee price

A German scientist has suggested that we are paying less for a cup of delicious steaming coffee than we should – and came up with a method that would allow coffee sellers to calculate how far they could ratchet up their prices. According to the Daily Mail, German neurobiologist Kai-Markus Müller has figured people would be willing to pay up as much as €2.40 for a small coffee, while a Starbucks in Stuttgart charges only €1.80. He said that by measuring customers' brainwaves companies could test if they were selling their products for the maximum price without putting their clients off. In the coffee experiment, the scientist showed people the same cup of coffee on a screen several times but with different prices while monitoring their brain's activity. He found out that people strongly reacted to prices that seemed too low or too high, such as 10 cents or €10 per cup, but didn’t seem to object when the price went above the customary €1.80. “In other words, the company is missing out on millions in profits, because it is not fully exploiting consumers' willingness to pay money,” Dr. Müller said. Voice of Russia, Daily Mail, Source: Article

Read More........→March 16, 2014

Chimpanzees Are Rational, Not Conformists

Higher rewards

himpanzees are sensitive to social influences but they maintain their own strategy to solve a problem rather than conform to what the majority of group members are doing. However, chimpanzees do change their strategy when they can obtain greater rewards, MPI researchers found. The study was published in PLOS ONE on November 28, 2013. Chimpanzees are known for their curious nature. They show a rich palette of learning behaviour, both individually and socially. But they are also rather  hesitant  to abandon their personal preferences, even when that familiar behaviour becomes extremely ineffective. Under which circumstances would chimpanzees flexibly adjust their behaviour? Edwin van Leeuwen and colleagues from the MPI's for Psycholinguistics and Evolutionary Anthropology conducted a series of experiments in Germany and Zambia to answer this question. Wooden balls for peanuts The researchers studied 16 captive chimpanzees at the Wolfgang Kohler Primate Research Center in Germany (Leipzig) and 12 semi-wild chimpanzees at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust, a sanctuary that houses more than a hundred chimpanzees under nearly natural conditions in the north-western part of Zambia. Chimpanzees were trained on two different vending machines. A minority of the group was made familiar with one machine and the majority of group members with the other machine. Wooden balls were thrown into their enclosure; the chimpanzees could insert these balls into the machines to receive one peanut for each ball. Van Leeuwen and his colleagues first aimed to replicate previous research and looked whether the chimpanzees in the minority group would change their behaviour toward using the vending machine that the majority of group members used. However, neither the German nor the Zambian chimpanzees gave up their strategy to join the majority. In the second study, the profitability of the vending machines was changed so that the vending machine that the minority used became more profitable, now spitting out five rewards for every ball inserted. Over time, the majority chimpanzees observed that the minority chimpanzees received more peanuts for the same effort and all but one gradually switched to using this more profitable machine. "Where chimpanzees do not readily change their behaviour under majority influences, they do change their behaviour when they can maximise their payoffs," Van Leeuwen says. "We conclude that chimpanzees may prefer persevering in successful and familiar strategies over adopting the equally effective strategy of the majority, but that chimpanzees find sufficient incentive in changing their behaviour when they can obtain higher rewards somewhere else.” “So, it's peanuts over popularity" he jokingly adds. The researchers emphasise that these results may be dependent upon the specific trade-offs that were created by the experimental design and that chimpanzees could act differently under the pressures of life in the wild. Van Leeuwen: "Conformity could still be a process guiding chimpanzees’ behaviour. Chimpanzee females, for instance, disperse to other groups in the wild. For these females, it is of vital importance to integrate into the new group. Conformity to local (foraging) customs might help them to achieve this integration." Link to the publication. Contacts and sources: Edwin van Leeuwen. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Source: Article

Read More........→December 23, 2013

One step closer: new gene therapy may completely cure AIDS

A new way to treat AIDS has been discovered by an Australian researcher. Tests on animals will begin soon, but five years remain until they can be conducted on humans.

David Harrich, an associate professor at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) may have found a solution to cure HIV. This is the result of experiments with HIV protein and a gene known as Tat. Harrich himself says that the modified substance does not have any harmful effect on human cells, but he must still put it through very rigorous testing. First it will be tested on mice then in five years on humans. The idea of gene therapy gained popularity after the case of the Berlin Patient. The patient was cured of HIV after he had been transplanted bone marrow with a mutant form of the protein. Voice of Russia, FoxNews, Source: Voice of Russia

Read More........→April 07, 2013

Galileo IOV take-off

The quartet of navigation satellites will operate from medium orbit 23 222 km above Earth. This is a significant milestone for Europe’s Galileo programme because four is the minimum number required for navigational fixes, enabling full system testing whenever they are all visible in the sky.

Galileo IOV-2 launch [flight VS03]

Soyuz VS03 liftoff

The Soyuz ST-B launcher carrying the next two Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites take off on 18:15:00 GMT (20:15:00 CEST). Deployment of its twin satellites into orbit is scheduled for three hours 44 minutes after take-off.

Separation of the two Galileo satellites from Fregat stage

This In-Orbit Validation phase will be followed by the deployment of more satellites and ground segment to achieve ‘Full Operational Capability’. After that, users on the ground can exploit the services.

Four Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites in medium-Earth orbit, the minimum number needed to perform a navigation fix. The first four Galileo satellites were built by a consortium led by EADS Astrium, Germany, with Astrium producing the platforms and Astrium UK responsible for the payloads. They were assembled and tested in Rome by Thales Alenia Space. For more information about Arianespace, visit: http://www.arianespace.com/index/index.asp, ESA - Navigation - The future - Galileo: http://www.esa.int/esaNA/galileo.html, Images, Text, Credits: ESA / P. Carril / S. Corvaja., Greetings, Orbiter.ch, Source: Orbiter.ch Space News

Read More........→March 07, 2013

Celestial Fireworks When Milky Way's Giant Black Hole Swallowed A Satellite Galaxy

Julie Turner, Vanderbilt University

These days the core of the Milky Way galaxy is a pretty tame place...cosmically speaking. The galactic black hole at the center is a sleeping giant. Existing stars are peacefully circling. Although conditions are favorable, there doesn’t even seem to be much new star formation going on. But there is growing evidence that several million years ago the galactic center was the site of all manner of celestial fireworks. A pair of assistant professors – Kelly Holley-Bockelmann at Vanderbilt and Tamara Bogdanović at Georgia Institute of Technology – have come up with an explanation that fits these “forensic” clues. Artist's illustration of a satellite galaxy on a collision course with the galactic black hole. Writing in the March 6 issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the astronomers describe how a single event – a violent collision and merger between the galactic black hole and an intermediate-sized black hole in one of the small “satellite galaxies” that circle the Milky Way – could have produced the features that point to a more violent past for the galactic core. “Tamara and I had just attended an astronomy conference in Aspen, Colorado, where several of these new observations were announced,” said Holley-Bockelmann. “It was January 2010 and a snow storm had closed the airport. We decided to rent a car to drive to Denver. As we drove through the storm, we pieced together the clues from the conference and realized that a single catastrophic event – the collision between two black holes about 10 million years ago - could explain all the new evidence.” The most dramatic of these extraordinary clues are the Fermi bubbles. These giant lobes of high-energy radiation - caused by particles moving nearly the speed of light - extend some 30,000 light years above and below the Milky Way center. If they were glowing in visible light they would fill about half of the night sky. But they radiate X-ray and gamma-ray light, so you need X-ray vision to see them. The discovery was reported by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Another puzzling characteristic of the GC, the astronomer’s abbreviation for the galactic center, is the fact that it contains the three most massive clusters of young stars in the entire galaxy. The Central, Arches and Quintuplet clusters each contain hundreds of young, hot stars that are much larger than the Sun. These stars typically burn out in “only” a few million years because of their extreme brightness, so there had to have been a relatively recent burst of star formation at the GC. The supermassive black hole that dominates the center of the Milky Way weighs in at about four million solar masses and is roughly 40 light seconds in diameter: only nine times the size of the sun. Such an object produces intense gravitational tides. So astronomers were surprised to discover a number of clumps of bright new stars closer than three lights years from the black hole’s maw. It wouldn’t be that surprising if the stars were being sucked into the black hole, but they show every sign of having formed in place. For this to happen, the clouds of dust and gas that they formed from must have been exceptionally dense: 10,000 times thicker than the other molecular clouds in the GC. While there is an excess of young hot stars in the galactic core, there is also a surprising dearth of older stars. Theoretical models predict that the density of old stars should increase as you move closer to the black hole. Instead, there are very few old stars found within several light years of the sleeping giant. When she got home from the conference, Holley-Bockelmann recruited Vanderbilt graduate student Meagan Langto work on the problem with them. With the assistance of Pau Amaro-Seoane from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, Alberto Sesana from the Institut de Ciències de l'Espai in Spain, and Vanderbilt Research Assistant Professor Manodeep Sinha, they came up with a theoretical model that fits the observations and makes some testable predictions. The scenario began about 13 billion years ago, when the path of one of the smaller satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way is diverted so that it began drifting inward toward the core. According to a recent study, this may have happened dozens of times in the lifetime of the Milky Way. As the satellite galaxy – a collection of stars and gas with an intermediate-sized black hole with a mass equal to about 10,000 suns – spiraled in, most of its mass was gradually stripped away, finally leaving the black hole and a handful of gravitationally bound stars. About 10 million years ago, the stripped down core of the satellite galaxy finally reached the galactic center. When two black holes merge, they first go through an elaborate dance. So the smaller black hole would have circled the galactic black hole for several million years before it was ultimately consumed. As the smaller black hole circled closer and closer, it would have churned up the dust and gas in the vicinity and pushed enough material into the galactic black hole in the process to produce the Fermi bubbles. The violent gravitational tides produced by the process could easily have compressed the molecular clouds in the core to the super densities required to produce the young stars that are now located on the central black hole’s doorstep. In addition, the vigorous churning would have swept out the existing stars from the area surrounding the massive central black hole. In fact, the astronomer’s model predicts that the black holes’ merger dance should have flung a large number of the missing old stars out into the galaxy at hyper velocities, thus explaining the absence of old stars immediately around the super-massive black hole. “The gravitational pull of the satellite galaxy’s black hole could have carved nearly 1,000 stars out of the galactic center,” said Bogdanović. “Those stars should still be racing through space, about 10,000 light years away from their original orbits.” It should be possible to detect these stars with large surveys like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey because these stars would be traveling at much higher velocities than stars that have not undergone this type of interaction. So discovery of a large number of "high velocity stars" racing outward through the galaxy would strongly support the proposed scenario of the Milky Way and satellite galaxy merger. The research was supported by National Science Foundation Career Grant AST-0847696 and National Aviation and Space Administration grants NNX08AG74G and PF9-00061 as well as an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Contacts and sources: Vanderbilt Univerity, Citation: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Source: Nano Patents And Innovations

Read More........→March 05, 2013

Birth Of A Giant Planet: Candidate Protoplanet Spotted Inside Its Stellar Womb

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have obtained what is likely the first direct observation of a forming planet still embedded in a thick disc of gas and dust. If confirmed, this discovery will greatly improve our understanding of how planets form and allow astronomers to test the current theories against an observable target. This artist’s impression shows the formation of a gas giant planet in the ring of dust around the young star HD 100546. This system is also suspected to contain another large planet orbiting closer to the star. The newly-discovered object lies about 70 times further from its star than the Earth does from the Sun. This protoplanet is surrounded by a thick cloud of material so that, seen from this position, its star almost invisible and red in colour because of the scattering of light from the dust. An international team led by Sascha Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) has studied the disc of gas and dust that surrounds the young star HD 100546, a relatively nearby neighbour located 335 light-years from Earth. They were surprised to find what seems to be a planet in the process of being formed, still embedded in the disc of material around the young star. The candidate planet would be a gas giant similar to Jupiter. “So far, planet formation has mostly been a topic tackled by computer simulations,”

says Sascha Quanz. “If our discovery is indeed a forming planet, then for the first time scientists will be able to study the planet formation process and the interaction of a forming planet and its natal environment empirically at a very early stage.” This composite image shows a view from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (left) and from the NACO system on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (right) of the gas and dust around the young star HD 100546. The Hubble visible-light image shows the outer disc of gas and dust around the star. The new infrared VLT picture of a small part of the disc shows a candidate protoplanet. Both pictures were taken with a special coronagraph that suppresses the light from the brilliant star. The position of the star is marked with a red cross in both panels.  HD 100546 is a well-

Credit: ESO/NASA/ESA/Ardila et al.

studied object, and it has already been suggested that a giant planet orbits about six times further from the star than the Earth is from the Sun. The newly found planet candidate is located in the outer regions of the system, about ten times further out [1]. The planet candidate around HD 100546 was detected as a faint blob located in the circumstellar disc revealed thanks to the NACO adaptive optics instrument on ESO’s VLT, combined with pioneering data analysis techniques. The observations were made using a special coronagraph in NACO, which operates at near-infrared wavelengths and suppresses the brilliant light coming from the star at the location of the protoplanet candidate [2]. This image from the NACO system on ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows a candidate protoplanet in the disc of gas and dust around the young star HD100546. This picture was taken with a special coronagraph that suppresses the light from the brilliant star and allows the region of the protoplanet to be seen in great detail. The brightest part of this picture is the candidate protoplanet and the dark disc at the bottom is hiding the very bright. 

Credit: ESO

star itself According to current theory, giant planets grow by capturing some of the gas and dust that remains after the formation of a star [3]. The astronomers have spotted several features in the new image of the disc around HD100546 that support this protoplanet hypothesis. Structures in the dusty circumstellar disc, which could be caused by interactions between the planet and the disc, were revealed close to the detected protoplanet. Also, there are indications that the surroundings of the protoplanet are potentially heated up by the formation process. This chart shows the position of the young star HD 100546 in the southern constellation of Musca (The Fly). Most of the stars that are visible to the unaided eye from a clear and dark site are shown. The star HD 100546 is surrounded by a ring of dust where a planet appears to be in the process of formation. This star is a little too faint to see with the unaided eye,

Credit: ESO, IAU and Sky & Telescope

but can be picked up easily in binoculars. The planets and the dust ring cannot be seen in small telescopes. Adam Amara, another member of the team, is enthusiastic about the finding. “Exoplanet research is one of the most exciting new frontiers in astronomy, and direct imaging of planets is still a new field, greatly benefiting from recent improvements in instruments and data analysis methods. In this research we used data analysis techniques developed for cosmological research, showing that cross-fertilisation of ideas between fields can lead to extraordinary progress.” This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a visible light view of the outer dust around the young star HD100546.

Credit: ESO/NASA/ESA/Ardila et al.

The position of the newly discovered protoplanet is marked with an orange spot. The inner part of this picture is dominated by artifacts from the brilliant central star, which has been digitally subtracted, and the black blobs are not real. Although the protoplanet is the most likely explanation for the observations, the results of this study require follow-up observations to confirm the existence of the planet and discard other plausible scenarios. Among other explanations, it is possible, although unlikely, that the detected signal could have come from a background source. It is also possible that the newly detected object might not be a protoplanet, but a fully formed planet which was ejected from its original orbit closer to the star. When the new object around HD 100546 is confirmed to be a forming planet embedded in its parent disc of gas and dust, it will become an unique laboratory in which to study the formation process of a new planetary system. This picture shows the sky around the young star HD 100546 in the southern constellation of Musca (The Fly). It was created from images from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The cross-

Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

like features that are centred on brighter stars, as well as the coloured circles around them, are artifacts of the telescope and photographic process and are not real. Notes: [1] The protoplanet candidate orbits about 70 times further from its star than the Earth does from the Sun. This distance is comparable to the size of the orbits of outer Solar System dwarf planets such as Eris and Makemake. This location is controversial, as it does not fit well with current theories of planet formation. It is unclear at present whether the newfound planet candidate has been in its current position for the whole time since it formed or whether it could have migrated from the inner regions. [2] The team made use of a special feature called an apodised phase plate that increases the contrast of the image close to the star. [3] To study planet formation, astronomers cannot look at the Solar System, as all the planets in our neighborhood were formed more than four billion years ago. But for many years, theories about planet formation were strongly influenced by what astronomers could see in our local surroundings, as no other planets were known. Since 1995, when the first exoplanet around a sunlike star was discovered, several hundred planetary systems have been found, opening up new opportunities for scientists studying planetary formation. Up to now however, none have been “caught in the act” in the process of being formed, whilst still embedded in the disc of material around their young parent star. More information: This research was presented in a paper “A Young Protoplanet Candidate Embedded in the Circumstellar disc of HD 100546”, by S. P. Quanz et al., to appear online in the 28 February 2013 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. The team is composed of Sascha P. Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Adam Amara (ETH), Michael R. Meyer (ETH), Matthew A. Kenworthy (Sterrewacht Leiden, Netherlands), Markus Kasper (ESO, Garching, Germany) and Julien H. Girard (ESO, Santiago, Chile). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor.  At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning the 39-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”. Contacts and sources: Sascha P. Quanz, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Julien H. Girard, ESO, Santiago, Chile, Richard Hook, ESO , Links, Research paper, Photos of the VLT, Source: Nano Patents And Innovations

Read More........→March 01, 2013