For the first time, a team of astronomers has imaged the eclipse of the star Epsilon Aurigae by its mysterious, less luminous companion star. Very high-resolution images, never before possible, have been published online today in the journal Nature Letters. Epsilon Aurigae has been known since 1821 as an eclipsing double star system, but astronomers have struggled for many decades trying to decipher the clues to what was causing these eclipses, which happen every 27 years.
Heavens
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---For the first time, astronomers have directly observed the mysterious dark companion in a binary star system that has puzzled skywatchers since the 19th century.
Using an instrument developed at the University of Michigan, scientists have taken close-up pictures of Epsilon Aurigae during its eclipse, which happens every 27 years. "Close up" in this case is a relative term, but the images zoom in enough to show the shape of the dark object's shadow.
Following yesterday's launch dress rehearsal and the debriefing today, the Russian State Commission has given the go-ahead to launch ESA's ice mission tomorrow at 15:57 CEST.
Today's go-ahead marks the last milestone along the road to launch the long-awaited CryoSat-2 satellite. By measuring the tiny variations in the thickness of ice floating in the polar oceans and changes in the vast ice sheets on land, the mission will provide scientists with hard evidence on the speed at which ice is diminishing.
Oslo, April 7, 2010: OptiNose, a leader in nasal drug delivery systems, is pleased to announce the publication in Cephalalgia of results from its Phase II clinical study investigating the efficacy and tolerability of its novel, intranasal drug/device product for the treatment of migraine.
Irvine, Calif., April 7, 2010 — Add insect-feeding birds, bats and lizards to the front lines of the battle against global climate change.
Summarizing the results of more than 100 experiments conducted on four continents, UC Irvine ecologist Kailen A. Mooney and colleagues found that these insect-gobbling animals increase plant growth by reducing the abundance of plant-feeding insects and the damage they do to the plant life that helps mitigate global warming.
"We have found real evidence that the Sun still makes its presence felt on Triton, even from so far away. This icy moon actually has seasons just as we do on Earth, but they change far more slowly," says Emmanuel Lellouch, the lead author of the paper reporting these results in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Could our universe be located within the interior of a wormhole which itself is part of a black hole that lies within a much larger universe?
Such a scenario in which the universe is born from inside a wormhole (also called an Einstein-Rosen Bridge) is suggested in a paper from Indiana University theoretical physicist Nikodem Poplawski in Physics Letters B. The final version of the paper was available online March 29 and will be published in the print edition April 12.
The implementation of electronic health record systems may not be enough to significantly improve health quality and reduce costs. In the April 2010 issue of Health Affairs, researchers from the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report finding that currently implemented systems have little effect on measures such as patient mortality, surgical complications, length of stay and costs. The authors note that greater attention may need to be paid to how systems are being implemented and used, with the goal of identifying best practices.
The human body has developed various mechanisms, through which it can protect itself against newly-developing cancer cells. For instance, killer-cells recognize and destroy altered cells in our organs every day. Once tumours have developed, they may be inhibited in growth by messenger substances from the immune system.
According to data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, or TRMM satellite mostly light to moderate rain is falling in the latest tropical cyclone born in the waters of the Southern Indian Ocean. TRMM can measure rainfall from its vantage point in space as it orbits the Earth and forecasters will be using TRMM data to continue monitoring the storm's intensity.
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite has been called a "flying rain gauge in space" because it measures rainfall from its orbit around the earth. This week, ex-tropical storm Paul gave TRMM a workout measuring heavy rainfall the storm left behind in areas of northern Australia and noticed some areas received up to 11 inches.
If our eyes could see radio waves, the nearby galaxy Centaurus A (Cen A) would be one of the biggest and brightest objects in the sky, nearly 20 times the apparent size of a full moon. What we can't see when looking at the galaxy in visible light is that it lies nestled between a pair of giant radio-emitting gas plumes ejected by its supersized black hole. Each plume is nearly a million light-years long.
Hip fractures are the second leading cause of hospitalization of elderly patients. In many cases, a hip fracture is the first step in a complete decline in the patient's health, setting off a long list of potential complications. According to a new study published in the April 2010 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS), a person's pre-surgical health classification–as determined by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)-is a leading indicator as to how well the person will fare after surgery to repair the hip fracture.
MERELBEKE, BELGIUM—In Belgium, ornamental plants account for almost 0.46 billion euro in sales, or about 34% of total horticultural production output. For growers, finding ways to control pests in production facilities is more difficult as the availability of authorized plant protection products becomes more regulated. Ninety percent of Belgian growers still use high-pressure spray equipment to apply plant protection products, but a recent survey of ornamental plant growers showed that present-day spray application techniques are unsatisfactory.
Noted Air Force Office of Scientific Research-funded researcher, Dr. Graciela Chichilnisky is pioneering a new approach for measuring, anticipating and managing catastrophic risks, sometimes called "Black Swans" or natural catastrophes like hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis and floods that may possibly enhance the Air Force's capabilities of preparing for disasters.