January 11, 2012

Good Morning,

So many great articles this week, I had to throw in an extra. The first article really struck my interest; it talks about the most in depth look at dark matter, which likely composes an upwards of 80% of the universe. The last article covers the miraculous advancements in prosthetics as they actually enable soldiers to again see the front line.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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Dark matter mapped to greatest degree ever

AUSTIN, Texas - Scientists have mapped dark matter in the universe on the largest scale ever observed, a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas, heard. The results reveal a universe comprised of an intricate cosmic web of dark matter and galaxies spanning more than 1 billion light years, astronomers from Scotland and Canada said. A team of researchers led by Catherine Heymans of the University of Edinburgh and Ludovic Van Waerbeke of the University of British Columbia achieved their results by analyzing images of about 10 million galaxies in four different regions of the sky. They studied the images for distortion of the light emitted from these galaxies, which is bent as it passes massive clumps of dark matter on its way to Earth, an Edinburgh release said Monday. Most of the galaxies included in the survey are around 6 billion light years away, meaning the light in the images in the study was emitted when the universe was 6 billion years old, about half its present age. Computer simulations have long suggested a universe full of dark matter but that was difficult to verify, owing to the invisible nature of dark matter, researchers said. "It is fascinating to be able to 'see' the dark matter using space-time distortion." Van Waerbeke said "It gives us privileged access to this mysterious mass in the Universe which cannot be observed otherwise."


Human emissions 'deferring' next Ice Age?

CAMBRIDGE, England - Human emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, will delay the Earth's next Ice age, European, Canadian and U.S. scientists say. An international team of researchers says data on historical warm interglacial periods most like the current one suggest the Earth would be due for another Ice Age in 1,500 years, but human emissions have been so high it could be pushed farther into the future. If CO2 concentrations were at "natural" levels the glaciation cycle would hold, they say, but as things stand it will not. "I don't think it's realistic to think that we'll see the next glaciation on the [natural] timescale," Lawrence Mysak at McGill University in Montreal told BBC News. There are those who saying putting off the next Ice Age would be a good thing, but Luke Skinner of Cambridge University in England says that's a shortsighted view. "It's an interesting philosophical discussion -- 'would we better off in a warm [interglacial-type] world rather than a glaciation?' -- and probably we would," he said. "But it's missing the point, because where we're going is not maintaining our currently warm climate but heating it much further, and adding CO2 to a warm climate is very different from adding it to a cold climate. "The rate of change with CO2 is basically unprecedented, and there are huge consequences if we can't cope with that," he said.


'Extinct' Galapagos tortoises may be alive

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Scientists say genetic analysis shows a species of Galapagos tortoise thought extinct for 150 years may be living on one of the archipelago's islands. Researchers at Yale University said the analysis suggests direct descendants of Chelonoidis elephantopus may be living on the volcanic slopes of Isabela Island, 200 miles from their ancestral home of Floreana Island, where they seemed to disappear after being hunted by whalers in the 19th century. DNA evidence suggests purebred Floreana tortoises must be living on Isabela Island among a population of its native Chelonoidis becki species, they said. Testing of 1,600 tortoises on Isabela Island found at least 84 animals that were the direct offspring of supposedly extinct Floreana Island tortoises. "This is not just an academic exercise," Gisella Caccone of Yale's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology said in a university release Monday. "If we can find these individuals, we can restore them to their island of origin. This is important as these animals are keystone species playing a crucial role in maintaining the ecological integrity of the island communities." Researchers say it's doubtful C. elephantopus reached Isabela Island on its own, and theorize the tortoises were taken as food from Floreana and were either thrown overboard by whalers or left on shore at Isabela.


Hubble finds most distant galaxy cluster

GREENBELT, Md. - NASA says the Hubble Space Telescope has observed a cluster of developing galaxies, the most distant such grouping ever observed in the early universe. In a sky survey made in the near-infrared light spectrum, astronomers using Hubble found five tiny galaxies clustered together 13.1 billion light-years away. That distance means Hubble has recorded images of them when very young, just 600 million years after the big bang, the space agency said in a release. Such clusters, comprising hundreds to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity, are the largest structures in the universe. The developing cluster, or protocluster, observed as it looked 13 billion years ago, has likely grown into one of today's massive galactic collections, astronomers said. "These galaxies formed during the earliest stages of galaxy assembly, when galaxies had just started to cluster together," Michele Trenti of the University of Colorado at Boulder said. "The result confirms our theoretical understanding of the buildup of galaxy clusters. And, Hubble is just powerful enough to find the first examples of them at this distance."


Prosthetics put soldiers back in action

BETHESDA, Md. - U.S. soldiers who lost limbs in war are being put back on the front lines, in some instances, with cutting edge prosthetic technology, medical officials say. A new microprocessor has allowed the creation of artificial knees in the past three years that are so sophisticated they allow wounded soldiers to perform at the levels necessary in combat, the Defense Department said in a release Tuesday. Amputee services officials at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., say troops receiving the Genium X2 prosthetic knee include Navy SEALS, members of the Army's Golden Knights parachute team and infantrymen on the front lines. "We wanted to enable any wounded soldier who has the willingness and ability to go back on active duty," David Laufer, chief of orthotics and prosthetics services, said. "We're not trying to force soldiers, Marines or sailors to go back on active duty after an amputation. We want to give them the opportunity to stay on active duty, and not be limited by their prostheses." Laufer said right now there aren't enough of the new devices to go around. Clinic staff members said the ability of severely wounded soldiers to return to duty has a positive impact on troops who have not been wounded. "They see them bring forward what they already know and realize they can do the jobs they were doing before they were injured," said Charles Scoville, chief of amputee services in the medical center's orthopedics and rehabilitation department. "They learn to respect [those wearing the prosthetic knee], and realize, 'He's not going to hold us back or get us killed.' It also shows them if they are injured, they will be taken care of." Marine Corps 1st Lt. James Byler, a 26-year-old infantryman who had both legs amputated above the knees after being wounded in Afghanistan, said he took to the X2 quickly. While Byler said he won't be returning to active duty, the prosthetic knees mean he will be able to "walk on the X2 and not even think about it."

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