Heavens

Though the universe is filled with billions upon billions of stars, the discovery of a single variable star in 1923 altered the course of modern astronomy. And, at least one famous astronomer of the time lamented that the discovery had shattered his world view.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – May 23, 2011 -- Globalization was once regarded as a solution to poor country exploitation - as the economy became a worldwide one, costs and incomes would normalize more evenly.

DURHAM, N.C. – Electrical engineers at Duke University have determined that unique man-made materials should theoretically make it possible to improve the power transfer to small devices, such as laptops or cell phones, or ultimately to larger ones, such as cars or elevators, without wires.

How unique is the Milky Way?

To find out, a group of researchers compared the Milky Way to similar galaxies and found that just four percent are like the galaxy Earth calls home.

The research team compared the Milky Way to similar galaxies in terms of luminosity--a measure of how much light is emitted--and distance to other bright galaxies. They found galaxies that have two satellites that are as bright and close by as the Milky Way's two closest satellites, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, are rare.

Freelance writer Robert Brault offers a metaphor for the night sky, "A trillion asterisks and no explanations." By supporting astronomers, the National Science Foundation (NSF) helps to provide explanations. A recent NSF- and NASA-funded study provides one more explanation.

Astronomers have discovered a new population of Jupiter-size planets floating alone in the dark of space, away from the light of a star. According to the scientists, these lone worlds were probably ejected from developing planetary systems.

CORAL GABLES, FL (May 23, 2011)-- Economist Christopher Cotton from the University of Miami (UM), uses game theory to explore two of the most famous military bluffs in history. The findings are published in the current issue of the Journal of Peace Research.

Tropical Storm 04W formed from the low pressure System 98W this morning in the northwestern Pacific. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite watched the towering thunderstorms in the center of the tropical storm grow to almost 10 miles (16 km) high as it powered up quickly.

An international team, including NASA-fundedresearchers, using radio telescopes located throughout the SouthernHemisphere has produced the most detailed image of particle jetserupting from a supermassive black hole in a nearby galaxy.

"These jets arise as infalling matter approaches the black hole, butwe don't yet know the details of how they form and maintainthemselves," said Cornelia Mueller, the study's lead author and adoctoral student at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.

A giant early-spring storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere is so powerful it stretches around the entire planet. The rare storm has been wreaking havoc for months and shooting plumes of gas high into the planet's atmosphere.

The atmosphere of the planet Saturn normally appears placid and calm. But about once per Saturn year (about thirty Earth years), as spring comes to the northern hemisphere of the giant planet, something stirs deep below the clouds that leads to a dramatic planet-wide disturbance (eso9014 - http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso9014/).

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– To David Cleveland, a professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Barbara, it seemed as though Santa Barbara County would be a great example of what many are advocating as a solution to the problems of a conventional agrifood network –– a local food system.

Bethesda, MD—The trip to Mars just got a little more difficult now that French researchers have discovered that antibodies used to fight off disease might become seriously compromised during long-term space flight. In a new report published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), the scientists show that antibodies produced in space are less effective than those produced on terra firma.

BATON ROUGE – They say that time and tide wait for no man – well, neither does the mighty Mississippi River. As the already gargantuan body of water swells beyond its normal manmade boundaries, the state of Louisiana is starting to see impact after having seen the damage already done to states from Missouri to Mississippi. While near record-breaking water levels are expected any day now and safety precautions are being taken, one LSU professor explained how the river's meandering historic path and silty contents might offer a future ray of hope.

Philadelphia, PA, May 18, 2011 – Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) in women of reproductive age may be due to a wide range of disorders or pathologies. Until now, there has been no universally accepted method for classifying such patients, which has impeded basic science and clinical investigation, as well as the practical, rational, and consistent application of medical and surgical therapy.

A new paper in the May 19th issue of Nature describes the discovery of a new class of planets — dark, isolated Jupiter-mass bodies floating alone in space, far from any host star. Bennett and the team of astronomers involved in the discovery believe that the planets were most likely ejected from developing planetary systems.