Conspiracy theorists around the world are nervous after a supposed Russian astronomer predicted that a massive asteroid will strike the earth on Feb. 16 – the astronomer said the result will be a mega-tsunami that will wreak devastation over a wide portion of earth’s landmasses. But NASA officials say the people of earth have nothing to worry about. The American space agency guarantees the asteroid will miss the earth by 32 million miles on Feb. 25.

Asteroid Close Flyby

The object was first detected by NASA last year. Dubbed 2016 WF9, the hunk of space debris appears to be a hybrid object, part comet and part asteroid in composition. It’s a sizable object measuring an estimated 0.3 to 0.6 miles across, but not large enough to produce significant damage if it collides with earth. The object will pass within 32 million miles of earth, not terribly close even in astronomical terms

A Fake Astronomer

Other also point out that Dr. Dyomin Damir Zakharovich, the Russian astronomer predicting the impact, may not only be a “self-proclaimed astronomer,” but may not be a real person at all. Several media sites, including the New Daily, say they have been unable to identify any legitimate astronomer in Russia, or any country, by the name of Dyomin Damir Zakharovish. No university system in Russia lists such a scientist on staff, nor are there any scientific papers published under the name.

The story gained steam after a British tabloid published a story about 2016 WF9 striking the earth quoting the mysterious astronomer, and an Australian publication picked up the story and ran it again. The story quickly went viral across the Internet fueled mostly by conspiracy theory websites and chat rooms.

But a real astronomer and professor at the University of Southern Queensland denounced the story as “categorically wrong.” Jonti Horner said the story is a classic example of the powerful “Murdoch Press” acting in an egregiously irresponsible manner.

Spotted by NASA Space Probe

The 2016 WF9 object was first spotted by NASA’s NEOWISE project on Nov. 27, 2016. NEOWISE is a deep space satellite telescope launched in 2009. Its primary mission is to spot and study asteroids and comets in our solar system, but also deep space objects. The space probe has discovered thousands of minor planets and numerous star clusters.

Its observations also supported the discovery of the first Y Dwarf and Earth trojan asteroid. The NEOWISE craft developed trouble with its transmitter in 2011 causing NASA to place it into hibernation. It was successfully reactivated in 2013, however. Another goal of its mission is to create infrared images of 99% of the sky.

The Nibiru Connection

The conspiracy theory surrounding 2016 WF9 was bolstered by relating the object to a fictional planet called Nibiru, a mysterious “Planet X” around which a tremendous mythology has developed in recent years. The so-called Russian astronomer said 2016 WF9 was “spun out” of the Nibiru system.

The concept of planet Nibiru has been greatly magnified by the enormous popularity of the books of speculative historian Zecharia Sitchin, an ancient astronaut theorist who claims that Sumerian culture was created by alien beings from the planet Nibiru thousands of years ago.

Nibiru supposedly exists in an extreme elliptical orbit and only comes into close proximity with earth once every 3,600 years, at which time aliens living on Nibiru visit our planet and meddle with human affairs. Sitchin’s book, The 12th Planet, published in 1976, has sold millions of copies and been translated into 25 languages. The book continues to sell briskly today in its 45th printing.

 

Photo by Hubble ESA, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

On Saturday, January 28th, the European Space Agency launched its new small telecom platform from its spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Based on the SmallGEO model, the Hispasat 36W satellite successfully reached lower earth orbit on a Soyuz rocket just 29 minutes after launch.

After demand for more flexibility with broadband internet, the satellite will provide modular telecommunications services to Europe, the Canary Islands, and South America.

SmallGEO and the OHB System in a Nutshell

The German satellite manufacturer OHB System AG built the three-tonne device, and it will be operated by a Spanish company.

After being released from the rocket, the satellite is now using its own thrusters to maneuver itself into a ‘geostationary orbit’ where it will stay to perform its functions. The orbit is 36,000 km above the equator. At this height, it will circle the earth at the same speed at which the planet rotates. As a result, it will appear to remain fixed in the sky from observers on the surface.

Once it reaches this orbit, OHB System will test the functionality of the satellite’s programs and determine whether or not its performance was damaged during its launch. When everything is ready to go, Hispasat will assume control over the satellite and begin offering broadband through it.

SmallGEO—shorthand for small geostationary satellite—has been an ongoing project of a partnership between the ESA and the Canadian government. The launch of this satellite will function as a test for future projects. If it works, the ESA will soon be sending several similar satellites into space.

Hispasat CEO Carlos Espinos Gomez praised the launch, saying

Hispasat 36W-1 is not only the first mission of the new SmallGEO platform, but also incorporates an advanced regenerative payload that will provide the satellite with greater flexibility and signal quality … thus improving the telecommunications services it will provide to our clients.

Andreas Lindenthal, a board member of OHB System AG, has said he hopes to cut production time on the SmallGEO to under three years. This reduced time of production could enable different missions and different types of missions, with time.

“Commonality is something which we have been able to demonstrate,” said Lindenthal. “We are able to introduce that across the disciplines into the various programs. This is for sure the future.”

Where the Project Gets Its Funding

Use of ESA funds for this project have come under fire for this type of project since its announcement. Magali Vaissiere, the ESA’s director of telecommunications and integrated applications, spoke out against these criticisms, saying,

The European public sector has a vested interest in supported partnerships between the private sector and ESA as it enables industry to take more risks and invest in new products and solutions, and in a way, accelerate their introduction on the market. Without the equivalent of say, the U.S. Department of Defense injecting vast funding resources into R&D, the European public and private sectors must work together to keep us at the forefront of advanced satellite technology and all the spin-off advantages that come with it.

Twelve different member states of the EU invested in SmallGEO, according to Gerd Gruppe, director of space administration at the DLR, including Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Luxembourg, with Spain and Germany having the largest investments in the project.

Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB, admitted feeling proud that due to this new collaboration and the SmallGeo platform, the German satellites will be active again after a staggering 20 years of hiatus.

 

Image source: pexels.com/photo/discovery-earth-nasa-research-23789/

Over the past few decades, commercial tomatoes have slowly lost their delicious taste. They are more bland now. With genetic sequencing, scientists think they can restore some of the taste. A recent study published in January 2017 revealed chemical compounds that scientists can restore in commercial tomatoes, in order to improve their flavor.

Scientists Find a Way to Improve the Taste of Commercial Tomatoes

According to a study published in the Science journal on January 26, 2017 that was conducted by researchers at University of Florida, genetic sequencing can be used to partially restore the sweet taste of commercial tomatoes. Genetic sequencing is determining the order of DNA nucleotides, which are bases of the DNA.

Researchers compared the genetics and flavor profiles of ancestral and heirloom tomatoes with commercial tomatoes. A heirloom tomato has been passed down through several generations for its valued characteristics. Through the comparison, they found several chemical compounds that are responsible for giving tomatoes a good taste.

The full taste cannot be recovered because the market demands large, sturdy tomatoes. And lost taste is one of the sacrifices to grow larger, sturdier fruit.

They found the missing chemical compounds by sequencing 400 varieties of tomatoes. The researchers conducted taste tests on 101 of these varieties to discover which types people liked most. Upon examination of the favored tomatoes, they detected 25 chemical compounds that enhance taste. 13 of the chemical compounds they identified were significantly reduced in commercial varieties.

More Background on Commercial Tomatoes and How This Research Will Affect Produce

Scientists are now working on restoring the lost chemical compounds in commercial tomatoes by crossbreeding them with heirloom varieties. They estimate that it will take three years before the tomatoes are improved and sold in grocery stores. According to plant geneticist Esther van der Knaap,

If those tomatoes can be even slightly improved it will be a big gain for consumers, and this study certainly shows a road map of how that can be done.

Bigger tomatoes don’t taste as good because the limited amount of sugar in them is distributed across a larger area. And there wasn’t much the researchers could do to change that fact. Thus, they decided to explore a tomato’s scent. Smell plays an important role in how humans taste and experience food. As research assistant Denise Tieman explained,

The real excitement of food is what you smell. When you chew, these aroma compounds get into your olfactory systems and that’s what really makes things taste good.

A likely consequence of breeding commercial tomatoes with heirloom varieties is a shorter shelf-life. The plants may only be 90% as productive as well. These factors could cause the price of tomatoes to rise. However, as horticultural scientist and study co-author Harry Klee said, consumers will probably be willing to pay a higher price for a better tasting fruit.

The genetic sequencing technique used in this study can be utilized to improve the taste of other commercial produce as well. In fact, a commercial strawberry breeder has already hired some of Klee’s former students to run genetic sequencing on strawberries to help him improve his fruit.

Conclusion

This genetic sequencing study on the taste of tomatoes will lead to the flavor improvement of not only commercial tomatoes but other fruits and vegetables as well. Commercial tomatoes lose their flavor because sugar must be spread across a larger area and certain chemical compounds disappear during breeding. The researchers of this study found 25 chemical compounds that were severely diminished in commercial tomatoes.

By restoring these chemical compounds, they can partially restore the tomato’s delicious taste. It will take around three years for the project to be complete, but other producers have already shown an interest in applying the same techniques to improve their fruits and vegetables too.

 

Image source: pexels.com/photo/food-tomatoes-vegetable-8390/

It’s been 31 years since the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff killing a crew of seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first civilian and school teacher in space. It was Jan. 28, 1986, and many Americans still remember where they were and what they were doing on that morning 39 minutes after 11 a.m. when the Challenger erupted into a mass of smoke and fire 10,000 feet above the earth.

NASA recently held a commemorative event on Jan. 31 called a Day of Remembrance to honor the Challenger, and also the Apollo I fire that killed three astronauts in 1967. Memoralizing the Columbia, the Space Shuttle that exploded in 2003 killing seven crew members, rounded out the day’s observance.

Huge Live TV Audience

The Challenger was the first catastrophic disaster for the Space Shuttle program since this class of launch system first flew in 1981. The first operational flight for the Space Shuttle, or STS, was in 1982. After four years of successful missions NASA was confident enough to add its first non-astronaut to a flight crew.

Christa McAuliffe was a school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, who was selected from a field of 11,000 applicants for the NASA Teacher in Space Program. The fact that McAuliffe was aboard made the mission an extremely high-profile event – tens of thousands of school children were tuned in around the nation to watch the launch on live TV. An estimated 17% of all Americans were tuned into the event.

Also killed were astronauts Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnick. The Challenger disaster is considered America’s greatest space disaster, although The Columbia also killed seven astronauts after it broke up upon re-entry in 2003. However, the presence of McAuliffe on the Challenger gave added poignancy to the event in addition to being the first fail catastrophically.

Grounding And Investigation

The entire Space Shuttle fleet was grounded for 32 months after the Challenger exploded. A special commission was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to investigate the cause of the event. The Rogers Commission was headed by former Secretary of State William Rogers. It included such famous members as Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, and world famous physicist Richard Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The Commission ultimately concluded that the explosion was due to the failure of an O-Ring that served as a seal for a joint in the Challenger’s right solid rocket booster. Hot fuel burned through the ring which then allowed flames to contact the fuel in an external tank. The result was an explosion powerful enough to break up the entire STS launch complex.

Part of the reason the O-Ring failed was because temperatures were unusually cold at the Florida launch site on Jan. 28. Icy temperatures made the material in the O-Rings brittle and less responsive to changes in pressure and temperature. This facet was famously illustrated by Feynman before news cameras when he dropped a sample O-Ring into a glass of ice water.

Controversy Over NASA Deaths

While many assumed that all seven astronauts died instantly in the catastrophic explosion, most experts believe the crew survived the blast and lived at least for the two minutes and 45 seconds it took for the crew cab to fall back to the Atlantic Ocean. The impact speed of contact with the water was 207 mph.

The ultimate cause of death for the crew has never been released – although NASA astronaut and medical doctor Story Musgrave said it is likely the crew remained conscious and aware after the blast, and lived at least until they impacted the water.

 

Image source: kennedyspacecenter.com

Because life has existed for so long, there are countless species of creatures that no longer exist. We only know about these creatures through fossil records that they have left behind, but it s very rare to find completely intact fossils. Researchers recently found a fossilized insect in Myanmar that is surprisingly well preserved. The most shocking aspect of this find is the bizarre, alien-like shape of the insect.

Discovery of Fossilized Insect Shocks Scientific Community

There are over 1 million species of insects known on planet earth, but this vast variety of insects can all be categorized in just 31 orders. Most new insects or fossils that are discovered can easily be added into one of the basic 31 orders of insects, but a new find in Myanmar defies expectations.

The insect fossil was discovered in Myanmar, and it is preserved within amber, a fossilized form of tree sap. The body looks almost like a normal ant, but entomologists quickly realized it was something different. Dr George Poinar and professor Alex Brown recently published a report in the Cretaceous Research journal that proves the insect is a new order.

The clear, hard amber has preserved the insect so clearly that the researchers could see every detail. They could instantly tell that it looked like nothing ever seen before. Its most unusual feature is a triangular head with a neck at one point and a giant bulging eye at each of the two other points.

This has been completely unseen in the insect world because all other insects with a triangular head have a neck situated between two of the points on the triangle. The oblong, triangular head with the narrow neck is not found in any other type of insect.

Therefore, the researchers created a new scientific order, named Aethiocarenodea, just for this insect. Its individual name is Aethiocarenus burmanicus, so it is named after the Burmese mines where it was discovered.

Entire New Order of Insects Discovered

Most orders of insects, such as the Coleoptera order of beetles, contain hundreds of thousands of species. The Aethiocarenus burmanicus insect is the only species within the Aethiocarenodea order. So far, only one other specimen of the burmanicus insect has been found, and it was also trapped in Burmese amber.

The triangular, sideways head is the most unusual feature about the bug. Poinar says,

With its long neck, big eyes and strange oblong head, I thought it resembled E.T. I even made a Halloween mask that resembled the head of this insect.

The unusual head and neck arrangement would have allowed the burmanicus insect to see almost 180 degrees and turn its head sideways. It could easily have seen everything behind it, and the massive bulging eyes seem to be quite powerful.

A triangular head with a neck at the vertice is not the only hallmark of the new order. The insect also has neck glands that were capable of secreting a chemical to repel predators. Its body is unusually flat, and its legs are extremely long.

The Search for More Specimens Grows

Aethiocarenus burmanicus looks like no other insect due to its triangular head shape. The uniqueness of this fossilized insect has caused scientists to admit the existence of a 32nd order of insects.

Though new species are discovered all the time through fossil finds, it is very rare for researchers to discover a new order of insects. They now hope to find more examples of this unique insect shape as either fossilized specimens or living insects.

 

Photo by George Poinar, courtesy of Oregon State University, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

 

The grass carp, an invasive species of fish not natural to U.S. waters, has entered three of North America’s Great Lakes sparking great concerns among wildlife biologists. The large foreign species of carp has been discovered in lakes Ontario, Erie and Michigan.

They hold the potential to wreak great damage upon the Great Lakes’ aquatic environment. What worries experts further is that 9 out of the 10 of the recent grass carp caught are fertile. Most previous grass carp found in American waters have been infertile.

What Is the Grass Carp and How It Got Here

The grass carp is a freshwater fish that can reach weights up to 90 pounds. It’s an herbivorous species meaning it eats only plant life. They are native to eastern Asia, with a natural range from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Siberia-China border. The fish was imported to the United States in 1963 from Taiwan and Malaysia to aquaculture facilities in Alabama and Arkansas.

It was hoped that the grass carp would be an effective weapon against weed control in some American waters. As early as 1966 a number of grass carp escaped from a Fish Farming Experimental Station in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Several more subsequent escapes, and several illegal releases have resulted in the unwanted spread of the species into greater American and Canadian water systems.

Trouble For Native Fish

The reason grass carp can be devastating to American water systems is that they are extremely aggressive feeders on a variety of aquatic plants. Native species of fish, such as Great Lakes salmon, lake trout, smelt, walleye, northern pike, perch and many others also rely on the same vegetation not just for food, but to provide underwater habitat conducive to maintaining an overall environment for survival.

Too many grass carp can essentially “deforest” underwater ecosystems, leaving behind barren aquatic landscapes that starve out native fish. Grass carp eat about three times their own body weight daily – a lot of food for those reaching 90 pounds.

Still Time to Control

Scientists estimate they have about 10 years to counter the incursion of grass carp into the Great Lakes. The fish still require several generations to gain sufficient numbers before they can radically alter the aquatic ecosystems here. One suggested tactic is to place nets over areas where the carp are likely to spawn during mating season. Another is to simply control the number of new invaders from being released from other U.S. locations where the fish are legally cultivated.

Another possible weapon against the grass carp are fisherman. This fish possesses many of the qualities that angling enthusiasts enjoy – it’s large, puts up a good fight on the rod and reel, and they are good to eat. A problem, however, is that because grass carp are strictly vegetarians, baiting them is a challenge.

A preferred method to lure the grass carp is chumming – scattering foods like corn, cherry tomatoes or bread on the surface of the water – and then floating a hook “pinch-baited” with corn or bread nearby. Spearing and bow fishing are other popular methods.

Other Invasive Carps

The grass carp is just one of several Asian species of carp causing great concern in American waters. The bighead carp and the silver carp — also called the flying silver carp — have been found in great numbers in many U.S. waterways. These species were also imported from Asia for the purpose of weed and plankton control, but escaped through either accidental or illegal release.

 

Photo by Peter Salasz, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

Scientists have successfully used rats as hosts to grow new pancreases for mice, a procedure that may have enormous implications for the future of human organ transplant capability. Researchers took stem cells from mice and put them into rats where a new pancreas was generated. The new organ was then transplanted from the rats back into mice. The hybrid pancreas organ then began to produce insulin in the mice, effectively curing them of diabetes.

The research was carried out at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California. Leading the effort was stem cell biologist Hiromitsu Nakauchi who published the results in the Jan. 26 issue of Nature.

The success of the rat-to-mice organ generation method suggests that the same procedure might eventually be developed for human subjects. That would require transplanting human stem cells into another species large enough to grow human-sized organs. Rats and mice are simply not large enough for human interaction, and are incompatible in other biological ways. One of the host animals most often suggested is a pig.

Why Pigs?

Use of pigs in conjunction with human medical applications actually has a long history. For example, pig valves are still commonly used today in heart transplants. Artificial insulin for diabetics was for years generated in pigs. The process has since been replaced by recombinant DNA technology, but pig or bovine-based insulin was once the only source.

Still another human-use product derived from pigs are tissues that are processed for wound closure applications. The fact is, using pig tissues to treat human subjects is well-established territory in medicine.

Ethical Medicine or Frankenstein Monsters

The rapidly developing science of inter-species growth of organs, hormones, various tissues and other products remains an area fraught with thorny ethical questions. From a common-sense point of view, many people feel that growing a body part in one animal for use in an entirely different species seems a fundamental violation of what Mother Nature intended. For many, on the other hand, it’s a deeply religious issue.

But there are also many legitimate concerns from a strictly scientific point of view. There are worries that interchanging biological components between species opens the door to dangerous contamination between human and animal species. For example, some fear that deeply embedded viruses or genetic diseases that can infect only pigs may somehow find itself into the human biology pool, potentially creating a catastrophic disease that could spread across the globe.

Another major ethical sticking point relates to the process in which mice pancreases were created with rat stem cells. Such stem cells are called pluripotent cells. To create a human organ using a pig, for example, researchers would have to inject large numbers of pluripotent cells into the animal. This theoretically could result in the generation of a large proportion of human cells throughout the animal body — but that might include brain cells — or the cells that lead to the development of human sperm and ovum.

Avoiding The Dangers

One does not have to be a professional medical biologist to understand the frightening implications of accidentally growing human brain cells or reproductive cells in animals – but those involved in such research today insist that extremely rigorous protocols are in place to prevent such a situation from ever arising.

Proponents of using human stem cells to grow hybrid organs in animals point to the dire shortage of human organs needed for life-saving transplants today. There are currently 121,678 people waiting for organ transplants in the U.S. Of these, 100,791 are kidney transplants. The average wait time for a kidney is 3.6 years, and 13 people die every day waiting for a donor.

 

Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-mouse-177719/

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The famous 5,300-year-old mummy named Ötzi is making headlines yet again. Researchers have recently taken a deep look at this male mummy’s tummy and revealed that he most likely ate a cured meat before he was killed in the Ötztal Alps. Interestingly, scientists now claim that Ötzi probably ate a prehistoric brand of goat bacon as a part of his last meal.

Research Into Ötzi’s Stomach

Researchers started looking at Ötzi’s stomach way back in 2011. Dr. Albert Zink, a mummy specialist at the European Academy of Bolzano, led this particular study. As researchers began their studies, they found that the Stone Age man ate both goat and grains before his death. It wasn’t until Professor Zink took a deeper look at the nanostructure of the food’s fibers that he discovered this goat meat was dry-cured.

Previously, most scientists just assumed the meat must have been grilled or cooked. Since this goat grub was dry-cured, Dr. Zink proposed that the Stone Age Man probably brought the food with him from his home village. In a statement to the press, Professor Zink said Ötzi’s last meal was a “very fatty, dried meat—perhaps a type of Stone Age Speck or bacon.”

More thorough analysis of Ötzi’s stomach revealed that he ate no cheese or dairy products with the meat. Scientists also believe that Ötzi most likely had serious health issues with his stomach. Using genomic sequencing and non-invasive diagnostics, scientists revealed Ötzi had the Helicobacter pylori bacterium in his stomach. This bacterium is connected with both gastric cancer and stomach ulcers.

Brief History Of Ötzi the Stone Age Man

Ötzi was first brought to the world’s attention in 1991. That’s the year two German hikers discovered him encased in a glacier while hiking the Ötztal Alps, which are located between Italy and Austria. This mummy was found approximately 3,210 meters above sea level.

Researchers were stunned at how well preserved this Copper Age mummy was. They all decided to name him “Ötzi the Iceman” both in honor of the Ötztal Alps where he was found, and to highlight the fact that he was so well maintained within the ice.

Scientists are still in awe of Ötzi, mainly because his DNA is extremely stable and they can run numerous tests on him. Geneticists have already scanned a full code of Ötzi’s genome, and new data about his life is coming out almost every single year.

It was discovered over the years that Ötzi was most likely a man between the ages of 40 and 50. Ötzi was discovered without a bow or arrow, which indicates that he wasn’t out hunting at the time of his death. Scientists believe Ötzi was deliberately murdered.

Some scientists believe they can even give us a good sense of how Ötzi’s voice sounded and what clothes he wore when he was alive. A few pictures of what researchers believe Ötzi would have looked like are floating around the Internet.

How This Information Helps Researchers

Besides providing the modern world with a fascinating tidbit about prehistoric bacon, this study actually helps both scientists and historians get a better sense of the time in which Ötzi was alive. For example, the discovery of Helicobacter pyloriis helping researchers discover the migration patterns around Europe some 5,300-years ago. The H. pylori strain in Ötzi’s stomach was actually shared with Asians, not North Africans.

This indicates tribes from Europe didn’t interbreed with Africans at this point in history. Yoshan Moodley, a biology professor at University of Venda in South Africa, said that we can now be sure the migrations which brought the African strain of Helicobacter pylori into Europe “had not occurred…by the time the iceman was around.”

These and other discoveries from Ötzi’s stomach are giving researchers around the world a clearer picture of Europe during the Copper Age.

 

Photo by Paul Hudson, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.