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A NEW STUDY SAYS THE CURRENT LOAD OF METHANE AT SATURN'S MOON TITAN MAY HAVE COME FROM SOME KIND OF GIGANTIC OUTBURST FROM THE INTERIOR EONS AGO POSSIBLY AFTER A HUGE IMPACT.
THEY THINK THE METHANE COULD RUN OUT IN TENS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS.
Showing posts with label NEWS FEED. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NEWS FEED. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
THE SUN'S MAGNETIC FIELD,DUBBED ITS "HEARTBEAT" EVOLVES IN A CYCLE, THE MOST PROMINENT OF WHICH IS REVERSAL OF ITS POLARITIES WHICH TAKES PLACES EVERY ELEVEN YEARS, WHICH WITH THE SUNSPOT APPEARANCES.
RECENT SIMULATIONS HAVE USHERED IN A MAJOR UNDERSTANDING OF ASPECTS OF THE SUN'S MAGNETIC FIELD.
THE INTERESTING PART OF THE FINDINGS OF THE SIMULATION ARE THESE: AT THE BASE OF THE SUN'S TURBULENT CONVECTION LAYER, TORUS-LIKE BANDS OF MAGNETIC FIELD UNDERGO POLARITY REVERSALS ONCE EVERY FORTY YEARS.
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HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND THIS? BASICALLY, THE SUN FUNCTIONS AS A DYNAMO. IN AN ORDINARY DYNAMO, A CONDUCTING COIL ROTATES IN A MAGNETIC FIELD WHICH CAUSES AN ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE(EMF) TO BE SET UP IN THE COIL.
IN A STAR, LIKE THE SUN, THERE ARE NO COILS. THE BLOBS OF PLASMA, WHICH ARE GOOD CONDUCTORS OF ELECTRICITY AND ROTATING WITHIN THE SUN, TAKE THE ROLE OF COILS. THERE IS A MAGNETIC FIELD PRESENT THERE WHICH INDUCES AN EMF IN THESE BLOBS, AND THIS IN TURN STABILIZES THE MAGNETIC FIELD.
NOW,IT REQUIRES VERY ADVANCED COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND VERY SOPHISITICATED NUMERICAL ALGORITHMS TO ACTUALLY MODEL THE SUN. SUCH A SIMULATION OF THE SOLAR DYNAMO HAS BEEN MADE BY PAUL CHARBONNEAU OF UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL, CANADA, AND PIOTR SMOLARKIEWICS OF EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS, UK.
IN AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL SCIENCE(APRIL 5,2013), THEY DESCRIBE A SIMULATION WHICH PRODUCES"ZONAL BANDS OF A STRONG MAGNETIC FIELD[THE TORUS-LIKE BANDS] PARALLEL TO AND ANTISYMMETRIC ABOUT THE EQUATORIAL PLANE" IN THE INNER LAYERS OF THE SUN. THIS IS THE TYPE OF INTERNAL MAGNETIC FIELD BELIEVED TO BE CONDUCIVE TO THE FORMATION OF SUNSPOTS.
THE REVERSAL OF POLARITY OF TORUS-LIKE BANDS EVERY FORTY YEARS IS NEARLY FOUR TIMES AS LONG AS THE OBSERVED SOLAR CYCLE. THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE STUDY IS THAT THE RESEARCHERS WERE ABLE TO SHOW THAT A "REGULAR CYCLE IS PRODUCED".
DESPITE THE MISMATCH IN TIME SCALES,"THE VERY FACT THAT A REGULAR CYCLE IS PRODUCED IS ALREADY REMARKABLE", WRITE THE AUTHORS.
THEY FURTHER POINT OUT THAT OTHER NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS PRODUCE INSTEAD "LARGE-SCALE ZONAL STRUCTURES WITHIN THE TURBULENT CONVECTION LAYER AND PEAKING AT LOW LATITUDES."
THE SIMULATIONS BY THE TWO RESEARCHERS ALSO REVEAL FACTORS THAT COULD BE OF SIGNIFICANCE IN AFFECTING THE OBSERVED CYCLES.
THEY SUGGEST THAT THE ACCUMULATION OF TORUS-LIKE MAGNETIC FIELDS RESENT BENEATH THE CONVECTION LAYER" MAY BE PRONE TO MAGNETO HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITIES." THIS IN TURN COULD DESTABILIZE THE CYCLES OR AFFECT THE POLARITY REVERSAL.
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IN A LIVELY SUPREME COURT ARGUMENT ON MONDAY, THE JUSTICES STRUGGLED TO FIND A NARROW WAY TO RULE ON THE MOMENTOUS QUESTION OF WHETHER HUMAN GENES MAY BE PATENTED.
"WHY SHOULD WE JUMP IN AND DECIDE THE BROADEST POSSIBLE QUESTION?" ASKED JUSTICE SAMUEL A. ALITO JR.
SOME JUSTICES EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT MAKING SURE THAT BUSINESSES CONTINUE TO ENGAGE IN EXPENSIVE RESEARCH . OTHERS WORRIED THAT ALLOWING GENES TO BE PATENTED WOULD SHUT DOWN INNOVATION. JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR SUGGESTED THAT AN ISOLATED GENE IS "JUST NATURE SITTING THERE."
THE COURT'S RULING IN THE CASE WILL SHAPE THE COURSE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND MEDICAL TESTING, AND IT WILL AFFECT THE WILLINGNESS OF BUSINESSES TO INVEST IN THE EXPENSIVE WORK OF ISOLATING AND UNDERSTANDING GENETIC MATERIAL.
THE CASE CONCERNS PATENTS HELD BY MYRIAD GENETICS, A UTAH COMPANY, ON GENES THAT CORRELATE WITH INCREASED RISK OF HEREDITARY BREAST AND OVARIAN CANCER. THE DECISION IN THE CASE COULD AFFECT NOT ONLY THOUSANDS OF PATENTED GENES BUT ALSO PHARMACEUTICALS, VACCINES AND GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS.
THE CENTRAL QUESTION FOR THE JUSTICES IN THE CASE WAS WHETHER ISOLATGED GENES ARE "PRODUCTS OF NATURE" THAT MAY NOT BE PATENTED OR 'HUMAN-MADE INVENTIONS' ELIGIBLE FOR PATENT PROTECTION.
THE PATENTS WERE CHALLENGED BY SCIENTISTS AND DOCTORS WHO SAID THAT THEIR RESEARCH AND ABILITY TO HELP PATIENTS HAD BEEN FRUSTRATED. CHRISTOPHER A. HANSEN, A LAWYER FOR OSTRER WITH THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, SAID MYRIA DESERVES CREDIT FOR ITS WORK BUT NOT A PATENT.
"WHAT EXACTLY DID MYRIAD INVENT?" HANSEN ASKED. "THE ANSWER IS NOTHING."
IN A UNANIMOUS DECISION LAST YEAR, THE SUPREME COURT SAID THAT MEDICAL TESTS RELYING ON CORRELATIONS BETWEEN DRUG DOSAGES AND TREATMENT ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR PATENT PROTECTION. NATURAL LAWS, BREYER WROTE FOR THE COURT, MAY NOT BE PATENTED STANDING ALONE OR IN CONNECTION WITH PROCESSES THAT INVOLVE "WELL-UNDERSTOOD,ROUTINE, CONVENTIONAL ACTIVITY."
SOLICITOR GENERAL DONALD B. VERRILLI JR., REPRESENTING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SAID: "MERELY ISOLATING A GENE WAS NOT SUFFICIENT FOR PATENT PROTECTION. MANIPULATING A GENE TO GREAT SOMETHING NOT FOUND IN NATURE WOULD BE."
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