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Attention couch potatoes: Walking aids brain connectivity, function

Science Daily  -  A group of "professional couch potatoes," as one researcher described them, has proven that even moderate exercise -- in this case walking at one's own pace for 40 minutes three times a week -- can enhance the connectivity of important brain circuits, combat declines in brain function associated with aging and increase performance on cognitive tasks.

The study, in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, followed 65 adults, aged 59 to 80, who joined a walking group or stretching and toning group for a year. All of the participants were sedentary before the study, reporting less than two episodes of physical activity lasting 30 minutes or more in the previous six months. The researchers also measured brain activity in 32 younger (18- to 35-year-old) adults.

Rather than focusing on specific brain structures, the study looked at activity in brain regions that function together as networks.

"Almost nothing in the brain gets done by one area -- it's more of a circuit," said University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute Director Art Kramer, who led the study with kinesiology and community health professor Edward McAuley and doctoral student Michelle Voss. "These networks can become more or less connected. In general, as we get older, they become less connected, so we were interested in the effects of fitness on connectivity of brain networks that show the most dysfunction with age."

Neuroscientists have identified several distinct brain circuits. Perhaps the most intriguing is the default mode network (DMN), which dominates brain activity when a person is least engaged with the outside world -- either passively observing something or simply daydreaming.

Previous studies found that a loss of coordination in the DMN is a common symptom of aging and in extreme cases can be a marker of disease, Voss said.

"For example, people with Alzheimer's disease tend to have less activity in the default mode network and they tend to have less connectivity," she said. Low connectivity means that the different parts of the circuit are not operating in sync. Like poorly trained athletes on a rowing team, the brain regions that make up the circuit lack coordination and so do not function at optimal efficiency or speed, Voss said.

In a healthy young brain, activity in the DMN quickly diminishes when a person engages in an activity that requires focus on the external environment. Older people, people with Alzheimer's disease and those who are schizophrenic have more difficulty "down-regulating" the DMN so that other brain networks can come to the fore, Kramer said.

A recent study by Kramer, Voss and their colleagues found that older adults who are more fit tend to have better connectivity in specific regions of the DMN than their sedentary peers. Those with more connectivity in the DMN also tend to be better at planning, prioritizing, strategizing and multi-tasking.

The new study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine whether aerobic activity increased connectivity in the DMN or other brain networks. The researchers measured participants' brain connectivity and performance on cognitive tasks at the beginning of the study, at six months and after a year of either walking or toning and stretching.

At the end of the year, DMN connectivity was significantly improved in the brains of the older walkers, but not in the stretching and toning group, the researchers report.

The walkers also had increased connectivity in parts of another brain circuit (the fronto-executive network, which aids in the performance of complex tasks) and they did significantly better on cognitive tests than their toning and stretching peers.

Previous studies have found that aerobic exercise can enhance the function of specific brain structures, Kramer said. This study shows that even moderate aerobic exercise also improves the coordination of important brain networks.

"The higher the connectivity, the better the performance on some of these cognitive tasks, especially the ones we call executive control tasks -- things like planning, scheduling, dealing with ambiguity, working memory and multitasking," Kramer said. These are the very skills that tend to decline with aging, he said.

Shrinking atmospheric layer linked to low levels of solar radiation

Science Daily  -  Large changes in the sun's energy output may drive unexpectedly dramatic fluctuations in Earth's outer atmosphere.

Results of a new study link a recent, temporary shrinking of a high atmospheric layer with a sharp drop in the sun's ultraviolet radiation levels.

The research, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU), indicates that the sun's magnetic cycle, which produces differing numbers of sunspots over an approximately 11-year cycle, may vary more than previously thought.

The results, published in the American Geophysical Union journal Geophysical Research Letters, are funded by NASA and by the National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR's sponsor.

"This research makes a compelling case for the need to study the coupled sun-Earth system," says Farzad Kamalabadi, program director in NSF's Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, "and to illustrate the importance of solar influences on our terrestrial environment with both fundamental scientific implications and societal consequences."

The findings may have implications for orbiting satellites, as well as for the International Space Station.

"Our work demonstrates that the solar cycle not only varies on the typical 11-year time scale, but also can vary from one solar minimum to another," says lead author Stanley Solomon, a scientist at NCAR's High Altitude Observatory. "All solar minima are not equal."

The fact that the layer in the upper atmosphere known as the thermosphere is shrunken and dense means that satellites can more easily maintain their orbits.

But it also indicates that space debris and other objects that pose hazards may persist longer in the thermosphere.

"With lower thermospheric density, our satellites will have a longer life in orbit," says CU professor Thomas Woods, a co-author.

"This is good news for those satellites that are actually operating, but it is also bad because of the thousands of non-operating objects remaining in space that could potentially have collisions with our working satellites."

The sun's energy output declined to unusually low levels from 2007 to 2009, a particularly prolonged solar minimum during which there were virtually no sunspots or solar storms.

During that same period of low solar activity, Earth's thermosphere shrank more than at any time in the 43-year era of space exploration.

The thermosphere, which ranges in altitude from about 55 to more than 300 miles (90 to 500 kilometers), is a rarified layer of gas at the edge of space where the sun's radiation first makes contact with Earth's atmosphere.

It typically cools and becomes less dense during low solar activity.

But the magnitude of the density change during the recent solar minimum appeared to be about 30 percent greater than would have been expected by low solar activity.

The study team used computer modeling to analyze two possible factors implicated in the mystery of the shrinking thermosphere.

They simulated both the impacts of solar output and the role of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas that, according to past estimates, is reducing the density of the outer atmosphere by about 2 percent to 5 percent per decade.

Their work built on several recent studies.

Earlier this year, a team of scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory and George Mason University, measuring changes in satellite drag, estimated that the density of the thermosphere declined in 2007-09 to about 30 percent less than during the previous solar minimum in 1996.

Other studies by scientists at the University of Southern California and CU, using measurements from sub-orbital rocket flights and space-based instruments, have estimated that levels of extreme-ultraviolet radiation-a class of photons with extremely short wavelengths-dropped about 15 percent during the same period.

However, scientists remained uncertain whether the decline in extreme-ultraviolet radiation would be sufficient to have such a dramatic impact on the thermosphere, even when combined with the effects of carbon dioxide.

To answer this question, Solomon and his colleagues turned to an NCAR computer tool, known as the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model.

They used the model to simulate how the sun's output during 1996 and 2008 would affect the temperature and density of the thermosphere.

They also created two simulations of thermospheric conditions in 2008-one with a level that approximated actual carbon dioxide emissions and one with a fixed, lower level.

The results showed the thermosphere cooling in 2008 by 41 kelvins, or K (about 74 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to 1996, with just 2 K attributable to the carbon dioxide increase.

The results also showed the thermosphere's density decreasing by 31 percent, with just 3 percent attributable to carbon dioxide, and closely approximated the 30 percent reduction in density indicated by measurements of satellite drag.

"It is now clear that the record low temperature and density were primarily caused by unusually low levels of solar radiation at the extreme-ultraviolet level," Solomon says.

Woods says the research indicates that the sun could be going through a period of relatively low activity, similar to periods in the early 19th and 20th centuries.

This could mean that solar output may remain at a low level for the near future.

"If it is indeed similar to certain patterns in the past, then we expect to have low solar cycles for the next 10 to 30 years," Woods says.

Solar system slips back in time

Live Science  -  Without celebrating a birthday, the solar system just got hundreds of thousands of years older.

To deduce when its first solid grains formed, researchers analyze structures up to a centimeter across found in meteorites. Such "inclusions" were created when gases cooled to form the sun and planets and are among the oldest solids in the solar system.

Now Audrey Bouvier at Arizona State University in Tempe, and colleagues, have analyzed inclusions in a meteorite that fell to Earth in north-west Africa in 2004.

Based on the extent to which uranium-238 and uranium-235 isotopes had decayed into their daughter isotopes lead-207 and lead-206, they say the solar system is 4.5682 billion years old. That's between 0.3 and 1.9 million years older than previous estimates, which relied on the Efremovka and Allende meteorites found in Kazakhstan in 1962 and Mexico in 1969, respectively.

Life-friendly planets

It may seem like a trivial distinction for something billions of years old, but it could make a difference when pinning down the conditions that led to the solar system's formation, says Bouvier – and those needed for other life-friendly planetary systems to form.

"Studies like these help tell us what triggered the formation of the solar system, and how that process occurred," agrees Ray Burgess, a geochemist at the University of Manchester, UK. "They can tell us how our planet formed, and why it has the structure it does."

The Allende meteorite is thought to have undergone great heating and deformation before landing on earth. Burgess says that the African meteorite almost certainly experienced fewer disturbances to its isotopic structure, making for more reliable data.

Seven thoughts that are bad for you

Live Science  -  Our personalities do more for us than determine our social circles. Temperament can impact a person's physical health.

"The idea that behavior or personality traits can influence health is one that's been around for a long time. We're just now getting a handle on to what extent they do," said Stephen Boyle of Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.

From those with a chill demeanor to the completely frazzled types, mental factors are ultimately tied to physical health. And while a highly neurotic person might deteriorate more quickly than others, not every character trait will kill you. Some might even boost lifetimes.

Cynicism

Cynics who tend to be suspicious and mistrustful of others, a character trait that scientists refer to as hostility, may have an increased likelihood of developing heart disease. "These aren't necessarily hot-headed people, but people who are more likely to read into people's behavior as some hostile motive," Stephen Boyle said during a telephone interview.

In a study of more than 300 Vietnam veterans who were healthy at the study start, Boyle found that those who scored high on measures of hostility were about 25 percent more likely to develop heart disease.

Boyle and his colleagues think that hostile individuals might experience more stress, which can cause spikes in an immune-system protein called C3 that has been linked with various diseases, including diabetes. In fact, the participants with higher scores on hostility showed an increase in these proteins while the non-hostile men showed no such increase.

Lack of Meaning

If you lack a sense of purpose, your stay on Earth could be truncated. A study involving more than 1,200 elderly participants who didn't have dementia at the study's start found that those who indicated having a high purpose in life were about half as likely to die over the study period, which lasted up to five years. The results, published in the June 15 issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, held regardless of a person's age, sex, education and race, along with level of depression and neuroticism.

"Persons with high purpose readily derive meaning from and make sense of the events of their lives, and likely engage in behaviors and activities that they deem important," said study researcher Patricia Boyle of the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago.

Some other research has suggested that people with a higher sense of purpose may have different levels of stress hormones, better heart health or improved immune systems, though more research is needed to firm up any of these biological mechanisms, she said.

The opposite also holds: "The findings from our study suggested that people who no longer set and work actively toward goals or enjoy their day-to-day activities (how they spend their time) are those with greater mortality risk," Boyle told LiveScience.

Fretting

People who are highly neurotic -- constantly worried and anxious, and prone to depression -- die sooner on average than their chill counterparts. And a recently reported study of nearly 1,800 men followed over a 30-year period suggests that's partly because neurotics are also more likely to smoke. Perhaps having a cigarette eases anxiety, said study researcher Daniel Mroczek of Purdue University in Indiana, adding that such a short-term payoff might not be worth it if it kills you down the line.

Lack of Self-control

Late for appointments? Can't keep your desk organized? No self-control? These seemingly benign qualities could take a toll on your health.

A review of more than 20 studies and nearly 9,000 participants revealed people who are conscientious -- organized and self-disciplined, as opposed to impulsive -- live two to four years longer than others. Study researcher Howard S. Friedman of the University of California, Riverside, suspects the boost in lifetime can be attributed partly to the fact that highly conscientious individuals are less likely to smoke or drink to excess, and live more stable and less stressful lives. The study is detailed in a 2008 issue of the journal Health Psychology.

Anxiety

The jitters can put a strain on your noggin, research suggests. Compared with the highly frazzled, individuals with a mellow demeanor who are outgoing may be less likely to develop dementia, which can be caused by Alzheimer's disease and other illnesses. The claim is based on a study that followed more than 500 elderly individuals for five years. Among the outgoing extroverts, dementia risk was 50 percent lower for participants who were calm compared with those who were prone to distress.

Gloom and Doom

The gloomy, inhibited person is not just at a disadvantage socially, but also physically.

A preliminary study of more than 180 patients suffering from peripheral arterial disease (plaque buildup in the arteries) showed participants with so-called type D, or distressed, personality, had an increased odds of dying sooner than other people. Type-D people are more likely to experience negative emotions while at the same time hold in their feelings.

The researchers, who detail their work in the August issue of the journal Archives of Surgery, suggest the personality type is linked with the body's immune system as well as stress response system.

Stress

Whatever you do, don't let this list worry you! Research is showing that prolonged stress can be deadly, and if it doesn't do you in, workplace stress can increase your chances of heart disease, flu virus, metabolic syndrome and having high blood pressure.

A study of nearly 700 Israeli workers found that those who experienced job burnout (when work stress becomes unmanageable) were nearly twice as likely as others to develop type 2 diabetes, in which a person's body becomes resistant to the sugar-regulating hormone called insulin.

And while a job promotion might boost your income, it also stresses you out. British researchers recently found that when people get promoted, they suffer on average about 10 percent more mental strain and are less likely to find time to go to the doctor.

Scientists Map Large Underwater Hydrocarbon Plume in Gulf

Science Daily  -  Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have detected a plume of hydrocarbons that is at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In the study, which appears in the Aug. 19 issue of the journal Science, the researchers measured distinguishing petroleum hydrocarbons in the plume and, using them as an investigative tool, determined that the source of the plume could not have been natural oil seeps but had to have come from the blown out well.

Moreover, they reported that deep-sea microbes were degrading the plume relatively slowly, and that it was possible that the 1.2-mile-wide, 650-foot-high plume had and will persist for some time.

The WHOI team based its findings on some 57,000 discrete chemical analyses measured in real time during a June 19-28 scientific cruise aboard the R/V Endeavor, which is owned by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by the University of Rhode Island. They accomplished their feat using two highly advanced technologies: the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry and a type of underwater mass spectrometer known as TETHYS (Tethered Yearlong Spectrometer).

"We've shown conclusively not only that a plume exists, but also defined its origin and near-field structure," said Richard Camilli of WHOI's Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department, chief scientist of the cruise and lead author of the paper. "Until now, these have been treated as a theoretical matter in the literature.

"In June, we observed the plume migrating slowly [at about 0.17 miles per hour] southwest of the source of the blowout," said Camilli. The researchers began tracking it about three miles from the well head and out to about 22 miles (35 kilometers) until the approach of Hurricane Alex forced them away from the study area.

The study -- which was enabled by three NSF RAPID grants to WHOI scientists with additional funding from the U.S. Coast Guard -- confirms that a continuous plume exists "at petroleum hydrocarbon levels that are noteworthy and detectable," said Christopher Reddy, a WHOI marine geochemist and oil spill expert and one of the authors of the study. The levels and distributions of the petroleum hydrocarbons show that "the plume is not caused by natural [oil] seeps" in the Gulf of Mexico, Camilli added.

WHOI President and Director Susan K. Avery praised the WHOI scientists for their "prudence and thoroughness, as they conducted an important, elegant study under difficult conditions in a timely manner."

Persistent plume

The plume has shown that the oil already "is persisting for longer periods than we would have expected," Camilli said. "Many people speculated that subsurface oil droplets were being easily biodegraded.

"Well, we didn't find that. We found it was still there."

Whether the plume's existence poses a significant threat to the Gulf is not yet clear, the researchers say. "We don't know how toxic it is," said Reddy, "and we don't know how it formed, or why. But knowing the size, shape, depth, and heading of this plume will be vital for answering many of these questions."

The key to the discovery and mapping of the plume was the use of the mass spectrometer TETHYS integrated into the Sentry AUV. Camilli developed the mass spectrometer in close industrial partnership with Monitor Instruments Co. in Cheswick, Pa., through a grant from the National Ocean Partnership Program. The TETHYS--which is small enough to fit within a shoebox--is capable of identifying minute quantities of petroleum and other chemical compounds in seawater instantly.

Sentry, funded by NSF and developed and operated by WHOI, is capable of exploring the ocean down to 14,764 feet (4,500 meters) depth. Equipped with its advanced analytical systems, it was able to crisscross plume boundaries continuously 19 times to help determine the trapped plume's size, shape, and composition. This knowledge of the plume structure guided the team in collecting physical samples for further laboratory analyses using a traditional oceanographic tool, a cable-lowered water sampling system that measures conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD). This CTD, however, was instrumented with a TETHYS. In each case, the mass spectrometers were used to positively identify areas containing petroleum hydrocarbons.

"We achieved our results because we had a unique combination of scientific and technological skills," said Dana Yoerger, a co-principal investigator and WHOI senior scientist.

Until now, scientists had suspected the existence of a plume, but attempts to detect and measure it had been inconclusive, primarily because of inadequate sampling techniques, according to the WHOI scientists. In previous research, Yoerger said, "investigators relied mostly on a conventional technique: vertical profiling. We used Sentry and TETHYS to scan large areas horizontally, which enabled us to target our vertical profiles more effectively. Our methods provide much better information about the size and shape of the plume."

The researchers detected a class of petroleum hydrocarbons at concentrations of more than 50 micrograms per liter. The water samples collected at these depths had no odor of oil and were clear. "The plume was not a river of Hershey's Syrup," said Reddy. "But that's not to say it isn't harmful to the environment."

No Unusual Oxygen Signals

The scientists benefited not only from new technology but older methods as well. Contrary to previous predictions by other scientists, they found no "dead zones," regions of significant oxygen depletion within the plume where almost no fish or other marine animals could survive. They attributed the discrepancy to a problem with the more modern measuring devices that can give artificially low oxygen readings when coated by oil. The team on Endeavor used an established chemical test developed in the 1880s to check the concentration of dissolved oxygen in water samples, called a Winkler titration. Of the dozens of samples analyzed for oxygen only a few from the plume layer were below expected levels, and even these samples were only slightly depleted.

WHOI geochemist Benjamin Van Mooy, also a principal investigator of the research team, said this finding could have significant implications. "If the oxygen data from the plume layer are telling us it isn't being rapidly consumed by microbes near the well," he said, "the hydrocarbons could persist for some time. So it is possible that oil could be transported considerable distances from the well before being degraded."

The NSF RAPID program, which provides grants for projects having a severe urgency and require quick-response research on natural disasters or other unanticipated events, significantly speeded up the acceptance of the WHOI proposals. "In contrast to the usual six-to-eighteen-month lead time for standard scientific proposals, our plume study was funded two days after the concept was proposed to NSF and went from notification of the proposal's acceptance to boarding the Endeavor in two-and-a-half weeks," Reddy said.

Within days of being notified of the award, Reddy said the WHOI team reached out to NOAA, offering assistance in the laborious, but important, process of collecting and analyzing water samples for natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). In addition to conducting the work NSF funded, the WHOI team worked cooperatively with NOAA to collect data that will be used to determine damages and calculate a fair settlement for those affected by the massive spill.

"Doing a NRDA cruise is not a trivial effort. It requires a tremendous amount of coordination -- from accommodating additional on-board observers to ensure a chain of custody to arranging for samples to be ferried from the research vessels every few days," said Avery. "I'm very proud of what this team has accomplished.

"Very good science was done that will make a big difference," Avery added. "This cruise represents an excellent example of how non-federal research organizations can work with federal agencies and how federal agencies can work together to respond to national disasters."

While at sea, these scientists, who are experienced in the study of oil spills and natural oil seeps, faced unusual challenges from the extreme heat, water rationing, exposure to crude oil and its vapors, and 24-hour-a-day operations enabled by the URI crew.

Along with their own scientific objectives, the team also bore in mind the advice of top science officials speaking at a June 3 Gulf Oil Spill Scientific Symposium at Louisiana State University, who cautioned researchers about the importance of verification and proceeding in a scientific manner:

"We are all served best by proceeding in a careful, thoughtful, and quantifiable manner, where we can actually document everything and share it publicly," NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco told those assembled.

At that meeting, US Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt underscored the need for peer review of interpretive results before they are released, saying "There's nothing that throws the community into dead ends faster" than to have [poor] data out there.

Assistant Director of NSF Tim Killeen also echoed the sentiment that "quality assurance and quality control are essential for thorough work."

"WHOI scientists attending this meeting took this advice to heart and used it as a guiding light for proper dissemination of scientific information," Reddy said.

Reddy said the results from this study and more samples yet to be analyzed eventually could refine recent estimates about the amount of the spilled oil that remains in the Gulf.

Camilli said he and his WHOI colleagues are considering a new research proposal to look for more plumes.

Reddy said the WHOI team members know the chemical makeup of some of the plume, but not all of it. Gas chromatographic analysis of plume samples confirm the existence of benzene, toluene, ethybenzene, and total xylenes -- together, called BTEX at concentrations in excess of 50 micrograms per liter. "The plume is not pure oil," Camilli said. "But there are oil compounds in there."

It may be "a few months of laboratory analysis and validation," Reddy said, before they know the entire inventory of chemicals in the plume.

Camilli attributed the project's success to WHOI's wide range of expertise and scientific capabilities. He contrasted that with "what the oil industry does best: They know where to drill holes and how to get the oil to come out. WHOI's expertise in oil spill forensics, marine ecological assessment, and deep submergence technology development will be essential for our nation as it updates its energy policy and offshore oil production confronts the challenges of deepwater operations."

Extended solar minimum linked to changes in Sun's conveyor belt

Science Daily  -  A new analysis of the unusually long solar cycle that ended in 2008 suggests that one reason for the long cycle could be a stretching of the Sun's conveyor belt, a current of plasma that circulates between the Sun's equator and its poles. The results should help scientists better understand the factors controlling the timing of solar cycles and could lead to better predictions.

The study was conducted by Mausumi Dikpati, Peter Gilman, and Giuliana de Toma, all scientists in the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and by Roger Ulrich at the University of California, Los Angeles. It appeared on July 30 in Geophysical Research Letters.

The Sun goes through cycles lasting approximately 11 years that include phases with increased magnetic activity, more sunspots, and more solar flares, than phases with less activity. The level of activity on the Sun can affect navigation and communications systems on Earth. Puzzlingly, solar cycle 23, the one that ended in 2008, lasted longer than previous cycles, with a prolonged phase of low activity that scientists had difficulty explaining.

The new NCAR analysis suggests that one reason for the long cycle could be changes in the Sun's conveyor belt. Just as Earth's global ocean circulation transports water and heat around the planet, the Sun has a conveyor belt in which plasma flows along the surface toward the poles, sinks, and returns toward the equator, transporting magnetic flux along the way.

"The key for explaining the long duration of cycle 23 with our dynamo model is the observation of an unusually long conveyor belt during this cycle," Dikpati says. "Conveyor belt theory indicates that shorter belts, such as observed in cycle 22, should be more common in the Sun."

Recent measurements gathered and analyzed by Ulrich and colleagues show that in solar cycle 23, the poleward flow extended all the way to the poles, while in previous solar cycles the flow turned back toward the equator at about 60 degrees latitude. Furthermore, as a result of mass conservation, the return flow was slower in cycle 23 than in previous cycles.

In their paper, Dikpati, Gilman, and de Toma used simulations to model how the solar plasma conveyor belt affected the solar cycle. The authors found that the longer conveyor belt and slower return flow could have caused the longer duration of cycle 23.

The NCAR team's computer model, known as the Predictive Flux-transport Dynamo Model, simulates the evolution of magnetic fields in the outer third of the Sun's interior (the solar convection zone). It provides a physical basis for projecting the nature of upcoming solar cycles from the properties of previous cycles, as opposed to statistical models that emphasize correlations between cycles. In 2004, the model successfully predicted that cycle 23 would last longer than usual.

According to Dikpati, the duration of a solar cycle is probably determined by the strength of the Sun's meridional flow. The combination of this flow and the lifting and twisting of magnetic fields near the bottom of the convection zone generates the observed symmetry of the Sun's global field with respect to the solar equator.

"This study highlights the importance of monitoring and improving measurement of the Sun's meridional circulation," Ulrich says. "In order to improve predictions of the solar cycle, we need a strong effort to understand large-scale patterns of solar plasma motion."

Asteroid Found in Gravitational 'Dead Zone' Near Neptune

Science Daily  -  There are places in space where the gravitational tug between a planet and the Sun balance out, allowing other smaller bodies to remain stable. These places are called Lagrangian points. So-called Trojan asteroids have been found in some of these stable spots near Jupiter and Neptune. Trojans share their planet's orbit and help astronomers understand how the planets formed and how the solar system evolved. Now Scott Sheppard at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and Chad Trujillo* have discovered the first Trojan asteroid, 2008 LC18, in a difficult-to-detect stability region at Neptune, called the Lagrangian L5 point.

They used the discovery to estimate the asteroid population there and find that it is similar to the asteroid population at Neptune's L4 point. The research is published in the August 12, 2010, online issue of Science Express.

Sheppard explained: "The L4 and L5 Neptune Trojan stability regions lie about 60 degrees ahead of and behind the planet, respectively. Unlike the other three Lagrangian points, these two areas are particularly stable, so dust and other objects tend to collect there. We found 3 of the 6 known Neptune Trojans in the L4 region in the last several years, but L5 is very difficult to observe because the line-of-sight of the region is near the bright center of our galaxy."

The scientists devised a unique observing strategy. Using images from the digitized all-sky survey they identified places in the stability regions where dust clouds in our galaxy blocked out the background starlight from the galaxy's plane, providing an observational window to the foreground asteroids. They discovered the L5 Neptune Trojan using the 8.2-meter Japanese Subaru telescope in Hawaii and determined its orbit with Carnegie's 6.5-meter Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas, Chile.

"We estimate that the new Neptune Trojan has a diameter of about 100 kilometers and that there are about 150 Neptune Trojans of similar size at L5," Sheppard said. "It matches the population estimates for the L4 Neptune stability region. This makes the Neptune Trojans more numerous than those bodies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. There are fewer Neptune Trojans known simply because they are very faint since they are so far from the Earth and Sun."

The L5 Trojan has an orbit that is very tilted to the plane of the solar system, just like several in L4. This suggests they were captured into these stable regions during the very early solar system when Neptune was moving on a much different orbit than it is now. Capture was either through a slow, smooth planetary migration process or as the giant planets settled into their orbits, their gravitational attraction could have caught and "frozen" asteroids into these spots. The solar system was likely a much more chaotic place during that time with many bodies stirred up onto unusual orbits.

The region of space surveyed also included a volume through which the New Horizons spacecraft will pass after its encounter with Pluto in 2015.
 

Why Smart Crooks Don't Use Smartphones

Fox TechNews  -  How does the modern criminal plan out a caper? Not on a cellphone -- if he's smart, that is.

Smartphones can take pictures tagged to a particular location and time, provide turn-by-turn directions, find the closest gas station or the best nearby Italian restaurant, and communicate via voice, texting, e-mail and even videoconferencing.

They can also store all that information, yielding everything the cops need to capture a bad guy.

The iPhone is particularly popular with cops, because it's so popular with consumers.

Forensics experts say that when an iPhone or other smartphone is involved in an investigation, it can provide an extensive set of digital fingerprints -- and digital footprints -- telling law enforcement where you've been, when you were there, and whom you've been communicating with.

"There's plenty of information an iPhone hangs onto," Jonathan Zdziarski, author of iPhone Forensics, told FoxNews.com. "For example, the iPhone takes a screen shot every time you hit the home button, including shots of your e-mail with the time stamped on it."

Such information can be critical in a criminal investigation.

"When someone tells me they have an iPhone in a case, I say, 'Yeah!' I can do tons with an iPhone," Detective Josh Fazio told the Chicago Sun-Times.

It's not difficult to understand law enforcement's enthusiasm for the iPhone. Equipped with GPS, a camera, and a Web browser, it can provide a wealth of data to police trying to track a criminal's movements and actions:

* Mapping software will store locations you've searched or directions you've received.

* The auto correcting typing feature of iPhones actually stores words you've typed, which could potentially be accessed months after a message was sent and deleted.

* Photos taken with the phone can contain information about where, when and with which device the image was captured.

* Web browser information is also often stored, such as reservations the owner has made or sites they have visited.

The iPhone is obviously a major focus in terms of forensic work, given its popularity, but similar vulnerabilities exist with the growing number of Android-based phones on the market, such as the Motorola Droid X, according to Andrew Hoog, chief investigative officer, at viaForensics.

"Many [Android] apps are being rushed to market, and they can have substantial holes," Hoog told FoxNews.com.

Furthermore, some passwords end up being stored as plain text on phones, including corporate e-mail and eBay passwords.

"It's practically impossible for an end user to completely wipe a phone clean," says Hoog.

So if you're not planning to commit a crime, should you worry? Maybe.

Smart phones are rapidly replacing desktop computers as the repository for a wealth of personal information, including banking passwords, personal contact information, text messages, and social-networking pages. Give someone access to your phone and you're giving them access to your life.

Many people are banking on their iPhones, for example. Watch out. Citigroup recently revealed that its mobile-banking application for the iPhone was secretly storing personal information, possibly including account numbers, access codes, and balance information.

"We discovered that our U.S. Citi Mobile iPhone banking app was accidentally saving information related to customer accounts in a hidden file on their iPhones," Citi said in a prepared statement. The company then issued an updated version of the software to correct the problem, but the vulnerability shows that even a bank -- which focuses intently on security -- can leave smartphone users vulnerable.

Do you carefully delete all of that personal data to play it safe? No matter, it still may be accessible to thieves or law enforcement.

"If you delete a file, the message remains on the phone" until the software overwrites it with another piece of data, explained Zdziarski. And that may be a long time. Zdziarski cited cases he's worked on with law enforcement where he recovered messages that had been deleted months before.

Remember, as well, that former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick landed in hot water and eventually jail two years ago because he didn't realize personal text messages were being stored by his SkyTel service. Indeed, even if you're using another carrier or service, your deleted text message may be stored elsewhere.

Typically, AT&T and Verizon keep cellphone text messages for only about 3 days. After that they are deleted from the carriers' computers. However, many companies store text messages longer to meet legal and fiduciary responsibilities. So if you're using a company phone, all your messages may be stored on the company computers.

Zdziarski concedes that iPhones aren't particularly better or worse than other smart phones on the market in terms of the information they store. However, he does have some advice for consumers.

"People need to be aware that that racy picture you took is still going to be on there even after you delete it," he warned. "So figure out what information is valuable to you, and don't put that on your phone."

Discoveries

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Vets Get Ecstasy to Treat Their PTSD

A pair of psychiatric experts think they’ve got the answer to the soaring number of troops coming back from war with PTSD: have them undergo intensive psychotherapy — while they’re rolling on ecstasy.

Dr. Michael Mithoefer and Anne Mithoefer, a psychiatric nurse, are the South Carolina pair who’ve been spearheading research into ecstasy, known clinically as MDMA, since 2000. After one successful study on 21 PTSD patients between 2004 and 2008, they’ve now received the final okay from FDA and DEA officials to start a study entirely devoted to former military service members.

“My sense is that, especially after we published the results of the first study, these institutions are more open to the idea,” Dr. Michael Mithoefer tells Danger Room. “Obviously, this is still new and experimental, and it can take time to get through to big institutions.”

With $500,000 in funding from MAPS (the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), the two are recruiting 16 veterans — they’re hoping for a 50-50 split between men and women, and want most of the participants to have been diagnosed within the last 10 years.

“These will mostly be veterans from Iraq or Afghanistan, because longer duration of PTSD means more complicating factors,” Dr. Mithoefer says, adding that he does anticipate enrolling 4 vets from earlier wars and is still accepting applications.

Participants will undergo a preliminary screening process, and then partake in three solitary, 8-hour therapy sessions with both doctors. While tripping out, they’ll be asked to revisit the traumatic experiences that triggered their disorder. Dr. Mithoefer thinks MDMA acts as a catalyst for “an optimal zone of arousal” that prevents patients from becoming overwhelmed or, on the flipside, shutting down and detaching altogether.

Of course, the Pentagon’s still struggling to better diagnose and address PTSD, most recently with a cutting edge 72,000 square foot research facility. But despite the military’s gradual thaw on alternative methods to treat the disorder — already, they’ve funded everything from yoga and acupuncture to “Warrior Mind Training” — top brass have yet to endorse MDMA.

“We’re had several conversations with people at Veterans Affairs hospitals and officers at the Department of Defense, but so far haven’t convinced them to participate,” Mithoefer says. “That said, we’re moving forward and still making every effort to get them involved.”

In the meantime, the Mithoefers anticipate finishing this latest study within three years. Teams in Switzerland, Israel, Jordan, Spain and Canada are in various stages of similar research.
 

Scientists Investigate the Possibility of a 'Super Earth'

You'd think "Super Earth" would be a place where everybody is beautiful. We all drive fancy cars, date super-models and eat like a pig without getting fat.

NASA scientists are now using that term to describe a planet similar to Earth in some geological ways, but it may be more of a hellhole than a utopia.

Still, the finding is regarded as highly significant.

The space agency says its Kepler spacecraft has discovered the first solar system beyond ours where at least two planets have been detected crossing -- or transiting -- in front of the same sun, at least from the vantage point from which it was spotted.

Launched in 2009, the spacecraft spent seven months observing more than 156,000 stars as part of an ongoing search for Earth-sized planets outside our solar system.

"The way Kepler detects planets is by the transit technique -- its camera looks for distant stars to dim a little bit if planets happen to pass in front of them. In this case, we actually see three transiting planets in the same system," said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

"This is the first time we have found a system that has more than one transiting planet. If three of these planets are doing this, that means the plane of that solar system is lined up incredibly precisely with our line of sight. Otherwise, if it's tilted at all, you'd only see maybe one transiting."

Hudgins told AOL News that, essentially, Kepler shows us the shadow of a planet as it moves in front of a star.

In this particular system, two huge Saturn-sized planets, most likely inhospitable gas giants, have been confirmed orbiting the star. But, Hudgins adds, when researchers went back and looked at Kepler's measurements again, they found a much smaller signal that caused a dip in the star's brightness about every 1.6 days.

"That's consistent with the light that would be blocked by a planet about 1½ times the diameter of Earth -- that's what we would call a Super Earth."

Hudgins says this Super Earth requires follow-up observations to make sure what Kepler is seeing is actually caused by the transit of a planet. But even if it turns out to be a Super Earth, is there any chance it might be habitable?

"This is not anyplace you'd want to visit," said Hudgins. "It's far closer to that star than Mercury is to ours. It's the right size, but it's certainly not the right place – it's going to be ferociously hot there."

Another reason why scientists are so interested in this star system, roughly 2,000 light-years away, is because it's a star just like our sun -- in fact, almost the sun's twin.

As AOL News reported earlier this month, the Kepler deep-space probe has located hundreds of objects orbiting distant stars, making those objects candidates for confirmed planets.

The ultimate goal of the Kepler mission is to look for a planet that is Earth-sized and in the habitable zone around a sun like our star

Hudgins likes to remind people that 15 years ago, "we didn't even know for sure that there were planets around any stars. Today, Kepler aside, we know of almost 500 planets. Kepler is going to unquestionably discover hundreds more."

Even though the possible Super Earth of this new solar system isn't at the right orbit around its star to have any possible habitable conditions, Hudgins says Kepler is constantly looking for that "third rock from the sun" paradise.

"If you have a planet with 1½ times the Earth's radius in the habitable zone, now we're talking. A Super Earth-type planet could be rocky, and if you put it in the right place, there is the potential that there could be life there.

"When we finally make the discovery of another planet out there that we believe has life on it, that will change humanity's view of our position in the universe."

Black Rice Is Cheap Way to Get Antioxidants

Inexpensive black rice contains health-promoting anthocyanin antioxidants, similar to those found in blackberries and blueberries, new research from Louisiana State University indicates.

"Just a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful or blueberries, but with less sugar and more fiber and vitamin E antioxidants," Zhimin Xu, PhD, of Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, says in a news release. "If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran?"

Xu and colleagues analyzed samples of black rice bran from rice grown in the Southern U.S.

He says black rice bran would be a unique and inexpensive way to increase people's intake of antioxidants, which promote health.

Black rice is rich in anthocyanin antioxidants, substances that show promise for fighting cancer, heart disease, and other health problems, Xu says.

He adds that food manufacturers could use black rice bran or bran extracts to boost the health value of breakfast cereals, beverages, cakes, cookies, and other foods.
Black Rice vs. Brown Rice

The most widely produced rice worldwide is brown. Millers of rice remove the chaff, or outer husks, from each grain to make it brown.

White rice is made when rice is milled more than is done for brown rice; the bran is also removed, Xu says.

The bran of brown rice contains high levels of one of the vitamin E compounds known as "gamma-tocotrienol" as well as "gamma-oryzanol" antioxidants.

Many studies have shown that these antioxidants can reduce blood levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol and may fight heart disease.

So black rice bran may be even healthier than brown rice, Xu says.

He and his colleagues also showed that pigments in black rice bran extracts can produce a variety of colors, from pink to black, and may be a healthier alternative to artificial food colorants that manufacturers now add to some foods and beverages.

He writes that several studies have linked some artificial colorants to cancer, behavioral problems in children, and other adverse health effects.

Currently, black rice is used mainly in Asia for food decoration, noodles, sushi, and pudding, and Xu says that he would like to see it eaten by more Americans.

Black rice bran could be used to boost the health value of foods, such as snacks, cakes, and breakfast cereals, Xu and his colleagues suggest.

Solar System Similar to Ours? Richest Planetary System Discovered

Astronomers using ESO's world-leading HARPS instrument have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets, orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180. The researchers also have tantalising evidence that two other planets may be present, one of which would have the lowest mass ever found. This would make the system similar to our Solar System in terms of the number of planets (seven as compared to the Solar System's eight planets). Furthermore, the team also found evidence that the distances of the planets from their star follow a regular pattern, as also seen in our Solar System.

"We have found what is most likely the system with the most planets yet discovered," says Christophe Lovis, lead author of the paper reporting the result. "This remarkable discovery also highlights the fact that we are now entering a new era in exoplanet research: the study of complex planetary systems and not just of individual planets. Studies of planetary motions in the new system reveal complex gravitational interactions between the planets and give us insights into the long-term evolution of the system."

The team of astronomers used the HARPS spectrograph, attached to ESO's 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla, Chile, for a six-year-long study of the Sun-like star HD 10180, located 127 light-years away in the southern constellation of Hydrus (the Male Water Snake). HARPS is an instrument with unrivalled measurement stability and great precision and is the world's most successful exoplanet hunter.

Thanks to the 190 individual HARPS measurements, the astronomers detected the tiny back and forth motions of the star caused by the complex gravitational attractions from five or more planets. The five strongest signals correspond to planets with Neptune-like masses -- between 13 and 25 Earth masses [1] -- which orbit the star with periods ranging from about 6 to 600 days. These planets are located between 0.06 and 1.4 times the Earth-Sun distance from their central star.

"We also have good reasons to believe that two other planets are present," says Lovis. One would be a Saturn-like planet (with a minimum mass of 65 Earth masses) orbiting in 2200 days. The other would be the least massive exoplanet ever discovered, with a mass of about 1.4 times that of the Earth. It is very close to its host star, at just 2 percent of the Earth-Sun distance. One "year" on this planet would last only 1.18 Earth-days.

"This object causes a wobble of its star of only about 3 km/hour -- slower than walking speed -- and this motion is very hard to measure," says team member Damien Ségransan. If confirmed, this object would be another example of a hot rocky planet, similar to Corot-7b (eso0933).

The newly discovered system of planets around HD 10180 is unique in several respects. First of all, with at least five Neptune-like planets lying within a distance equivalent to the orbit of Mars, this system is more populated than our Solar System in its inner region, and has many more massive planets there [2]. Furthermore, the system probably has no Jupiter-like gas giant. In addition, all the planets seem to have almost circular orbits.

So far, astronomers know of fifteen systems with at least three planets. The last record-holder was 55 Cancri, which contains five planets, two of them being giant planets. "Systems of low-mass planets like the one around HD 10180 appear to be quite common, but their formation history remains a puzzle," says Lovis.

Using the new discovery as well as data for other planetary systems, the astronomers found an equivalent of the Titius-Bode law that exists in our Solar System: the distances of the planets from their star seem to follow a regular pattern [3]. "This could be a signature of the formation process of these planetary systems," says team member Michel Mayor.

Another important result found by the astronomers while studying these systems is that there is a relationship between the mass of a planetary system and the mass and chemical content of its host star. All very massive planetary systems are found around massive and metal-rich stars, while the four lowest-mass systems are found around lower-mass and metal-poor stars [4]. Such properties confirm current theoretical models.

Pee is for power: Your electrifying excretions

Why let your waste go to waste when it could be powering your mobile phone – or even your car?

IT IS a bright spring morning here at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, where I have come to meet my interviewee for this article, Shanwen Tao. Normally when I interview someone, I give them a business card and maybe the latest issue of New Scientist. Today, I give Tao a bottle of my own pee.

Chemist Tao doesn't find this odd. Urine, he believes, could help solve the world's energy problems, powering farms and even office buildings. And he has agreed to use my offering to show me how.

Urine might not pack the punch of rocket fuel, but what it lacks in energy density it makes up for in sheer quantity. It is one of the most abundant waste materials on Earth, with nearly 7 billion people producing roughly 10 billion litres of it every day. Add animals into the mix and this quantity is multiplied several times over.

As things stand, this flood of waste poses a problem. Let it run into the water system and it would wipe out entire ecosystems; yet scrubbing it out of waste water costs money and energy. In the US, for instance, waste water treatment plants consume 1.5 per cent of all the electricity the country generates. So wouldn't it be nice if, instead of being a vast energy consumer, urine could be put to use.

That thought occurred to Gerardine Botte, a chemical engineer at Ohio University in Athens, during a discussion in 2002 with colleagues about possible sources of hydrogen for use in fuel cells.

Hydrogen can be produced from fossil fuels in large quantities, but it is difficult to store and distribute. Another option is to split water on the spot, releasing hydrogen directly into a fuel cell - but here as much energy is needed to split the water as is released by the hydrogen.

Botte's brainwave was to use urine instead of water. By weight, urine contains roughly 2 per cent urea, and each urea molecule contains four hydrogen atoms, which, crucially, are less tightly bound to the molecule than the hydrogen in water. Splitting these bonds would require less energy, making hydrogen production more efficient.

Last year, Botte's team reported that they had been able to generate hydrogen from urine using an electrolytic cell with cheap nickel-based electrodes running at only 0.37 volts- much less than the 1.23 volts it takes to split water (Chemical Communications, 2009, p 4859). Pure hydrogen bubbled off at the cathode, while nitrogen and carbon dioxide formed at the anode.

Botte calculates that with more efficient electrodes, hydrogen could be produced from urine at a cost of less than $1 per kilogram. She thinks the technology could be useful wherever large numbers of people congregate and enough urine can be collected to make the process worthwhile. "An office building where 200 or 300 people work could produce about 2 kilowatts of power," she says.

No one claims that urine will ever be the complete answer to our energy needs, but Botte argues that the more sources we have for our energy, the better. "We have gigantic energy needs. We are talking billions of megawatt-hours each year in the US alone," she says. "Trying to find one solution is not the answer. There is room for many technologies with different market shares."
Yellow gold

An adult produces enough urine each year to drive a car 2700 kilometres on energy from the urea it contains, according to calculations by Shanwen Tao, who develops urea-powered fuel cells at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK. Harvesting this resource for large-scale distribution might seem problematic, but as luck would have it there is a ready-made alternative - in Europe, at least.

Since 2006, the European Union has required most diesel trucks and buses to capture the toxic nitrogen oxides produced when diesel combusts. The toxic gases react with urea to form a harmless mixture of nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide. Today, more than 6000 petrol stations and other outlets across Europe sell 32.5 per cent urea solutions under the trade name AdBlue. The system also operates in several Asian nations and the US will soon follow suit.

"The infrastructure is already there, and the cost is only around 40 pence a litre," says Tao. If you had a car powered by a urea fuel cell, "you could just go to a normal petrol station, pump in urea and drive away", he says.

Though a urea-powered car would avoid using precious fossil fuels directly, urea is currently made from natural gas, so its carbon footprint would probably be similar to a petrol-powered car. However, efforts are under way to make urea from biomass, which could lead to significant emissions savings.