Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/249261427?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, September 18, 2012
How life arose on Earth: Researchers brew up organics on ice
ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2012) ? Would you like icy organics with that? Maybe not in your coffee, but researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are creating concoctions of organics, or carbon-bearing molecules, on ice in the lab, then zapping them with lasers. Their goal: to better understand how life arose on Earth.
In a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the research team provides the first direct look at the organic chemistry that takes place on icy particles in the frigid reaches of our solar system, and in the even chillier places between stars. Scientists think that the basic ingredients of life, including water and organics, began their journey to Earth on these lonesome ice particles. The ice and organics would have found their way into comets and asteroids, which then fell to Earth, delivering "prebiotic" ingredients that could have jump-started life.
The various steps needed to go from icy organics to slime molds are not clear, but the new findings help explain how the process works. The lab experiments show that organic material can begin the processing it needs to become prebiotic -- while still frozen in ice.
"The very basic steps needed for the evolution of life may have started in the coldest regions of our universe," said Murthy Gudipati, lead author of the new study at JPL. "We were surprised to see organic chemistry brewing up on ice, at these very cold temperatures in our lab."
The organics looked at in the study are called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs for short. These carbon-rich molecules can be found on Earth as combustion products: for example, in barbecue pits, candle soot and even streaming out of the tail pipe of your car. They have also been spotted throughout space in comets, asteroids and more distant objects. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected PAHs in the swirling planet-forming disks around stars, in the spaces between stars and in remote galaxies.
Murthy and his colleague Rui Yang of JPL used their lab setup to mimic the environment of icy PAH molecules in the quiet cold of space, at temperatures as low as 5 Kelvin (minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 268 degrees Celsius). First, they bombarded the particles with ultraviolet radiation similar to that from stars. Then, to determine the products of the chemical reaction, they used a type of laser system known as MALDI (for Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption and Ionization), which involves zapping the ice with both infrared and ultraviolet lasers.
The results revealed that the PAHs had transformed: they had incorporated hydrogen atoms into their structure and lost their circular, aromatic bonds, becoming more complex organics. According to Gudipati, this is the type of change that would need to occur if the material were to eventually become amino acids and nucleotides -- bits and pieces of protein and DNA, respectively.
"PAHs are strong, stubborn molecules, so we were surprised to see them undergoing these chemical changes at such freezing-cold temperatures," said Gudipati.
Another bonus for the research is that it might explain the mystery of why PAHs have not yet been identified on ice grains in space. While the hardy organics are pervasive in the cosmos as gases and hot dust, researchers have remained puzzled that their signatures do not show up on ice. The new findings show that PAHs, once they stick to the ice surface, are chemically transformed into other complex organics, explaining why they might not be seen.
While the new results teach us that life's journey could have already begun in the very cold regions of the universe, another question remains: Did it arise elsewhere beyond our sun, too? Researchers don't know, but studies like this one help the ongoing search for life beyond Earth.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Murthy S. Gudipati, Rui Yang. In-Situ Probing of Radiation-Induced Processing of Organics in Astrophysical Ice Analogs?novel Laser Desorption Laser Ionization Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectroscopic Studies. The Astrophysical Journal, 2012; 756 (1): L24 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/756/1/L24
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/8Whqt7ciLhw/120918162220.htm
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First badger cull licence issued
17 September 2012
Last updated at 07:21 ET
The first licence allowing farmers to shoot badgers in an attempt to reduce cattle TB is to be issued on Monday.
The licensing body, Natural England, said the cull would go ahead in Gloucestershire, where cases are high.
Ministers are pressing ahead with plans to cull badgers in two areas of the South West, amid pressure from farmers.
The science behind the culls is uncertain; a decade-long scientific trial of badger culling concluded there were only modest benefits.
Some wild badgers can become infected with the bacteria that causes bovine TB, and pass the infection on to cattle.
Natural England is about to issue the licence for Gloucestershire, while a second, for Somerset, is still being assessed.
A spokesperson told BBC News, "One will issued later today for the Gloucestershire area."
The licenses will allow farmers to shoot up to 70% of badgers in the pilot zones.
The first cull is expected to begin with days or weeks in a precise area of West Gloucestershire which is being kept secret.
Continue reading the main storyThe pilot areas
- West Gloucestershire pilot area description: mainly in the county of Gloucestershire, predominantly within the council districts of the Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury, and parts lie within the districts of Wychavon, Malvern Hills and the south east part of the county of Herefordshire. The area does not include the public forest estate in the Forest of Dean.
- West Somerset pilot area description: located in the county of Somerset. The application area predominantly lies within the council district of West Somerset and part lies within the district of Taunton Deane.
- Source: Natural England
The cull, which is being paid for by the farmers taking part, will allow the shooting of free-running badgers.
Animal welfare and wildlife campaigners have opposed the cull, but lost their fight in the High Court last week.
Defra says the action is necessary to protect cattle from bovine TB, which leads to the slaughter of thousands of cattle each year.
A Defra spokesperson said: "We will continue to work with the farming industry so badger control in two pilot areas can start as soon as is practical.
"No one wants to cull badgers but last year bovine TB led to the slaughter of over 26,000 cattle and to help eradicate the disease it needs to be tackled in badgers."
Plans to begin culling in Wales were recently abandoned in favour of a vaccination policy. There are no proposals to cull badgers in Scotland, where TB incidence is low.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19623703#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Monday, September 17, 2012
U.N. draws up second list of Syrian war crimes suspects
GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations human rights investigators said on Monday that they had drawn up a new secret list of Syrians and units suspected of committing war crimes who should face criminal prosecution some day.
The independent investigators, led by Paulo Pinheiro, said they had gathered "a formidable and extraordinary body of evidence" and urged the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"A second confidential list of individuals and units believed to be responsible for violations is being provided to the High Commissioner of Human Rights," Pinheiro told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
He said there was an "increasing and alarming presence" of Islamist militants in Syria, some joining the rebels and others operating independently. Their presence tended to radicalize the rebels who have also committed crimes, he said.
Western countries are seeking yet another condemnation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government at the session.
"The international community must ensure impunity will not prevail," European Union ambassador Mariangela Zappia said at Monday's debate that was also attended by Syrian envoy Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-investigators-draw-second-list-syrian-warcrimes-075805672.html
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Saturday, September 15, 2012
Filmmaker behind anti-Muslim movie gets attorney - The Seattle Times
CERRITOS, Calif. ?
The California man behind the anti-Muslim movie that has inflamed the Middle East has obtained legal counsel.
Escorted by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, attorney Steve Seiden emerged from the Cerritos, Calif., home of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula after a lengthy meeting Friday afternoon.
Seiden says he's been asked to consult with Nakoula about matters he's not at liberty to discuss.
Seiden said to reporters, "You're keeping his young children prisoners in their home because they're afraid to come out."
Seiden said he had no further comment, but asked the throng of news media to leave.
Source: http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019160214_apusegyptfilmmakerattorney.html?syndication=rss
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UN health agency says Ebola toll at 31 in Congo
GENEVA (AP) ? A deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus has killed 31 people in northeastern Congo, more than doubling the death toll from a week ago, the U.N. health agency said Friday.
There have been 69 cases in all including nine confirmed by a lab, the World Health Organization said, and five of the deaths have been confirmed by lab work.
The Ebola virus has no cure and is deadly in 40 percent to 90 percent of cases. The disease causes severe internal bleeding.
"The situation is serious," Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based agency, told reporters.
She said it was unusual that the first person to be infected was a health worker. Normally someone working outside would have been the first, as has mostly been the case in the eight previous Ebola epidemics in Congo since the first discovery of it in 1976. This is the first outbreak in the Haut-Uele territory, in northeastern Congo.
Authorities had said last week that 15 people had died in northeastern Congo, where the tradition of washing and displaying of corpses before funerals spreads the epidemic. The tradition is intended to show love and respect for the deceased, but the practice also brings people into close contact with victims of the deadly virus.
Aid group Doctors Without Borders, along with WHO and Congo's health ministry, have been conducting education campaigns in the area to warn people of the risks linked to this practice.
Doctors without Borders also is managing two quarantine centers in Isiro and Viadana and the U.N. has called for the creation of a $2 million fund to fight the epidemic.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-health-agency-says-ebola-toll-31-congo-104026127.html
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Women of Teal: OC Awareness Month #14 - Inside Knowledge...
The CDC?( Centers for Disease Control)? has done an outstanding job this year raising awareness of Women's Cancers during Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month. They have developed the program Inside Knowledge: Get the Facts About Gynecologic Cancer. The program concentrates on the 5 main gynecologic cancers- ovarian, uterine, cervical, vaginal and vulvar.
I am so happy to see that the spokesperson for the PSA is Jenny Allen. I met Jenny a number of times and she is a great performer ( I Got Sick Then I Got Better), writer, mother and Ovarian Cancer survivor.
I urge you to check out the CDC page which includes
Help spread the word about gynecologic cancers. Thank You.?
Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!
Source: http://womenofteal.blogspot.com/2012/09/oc-awareness-month-14-inside-knowledge.html
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