Sunday, June 3, 2012

Today on New Scientist: 1 June 2012

Win a copy of Alan Turing's legendary Princeton thesis

To celebrate the centenary of the birthday of Alan Turing on June 23, we're giving away a copy of his legendary Princeton PhD thesis

Friday Illusion: How colour can warp a wheel's motion

See a new colourful variation of the classic wagon wheel effect that illustrates some of the quirks of how we perceive motion

Goo-goo-gorillas have their own kind of baby talk

Adult gorillas modify their gestures when communicating with infants. It is being compared to "motherese" - the baby talk human parents use when talking to their children

Busy week for a little scorched Dragon

The SpaceX Dragon capsule has made quite a journey, becoming the first commercial spacecraft to visit the International Space Station

Vast cosmic event leaves record in ancient trees

Tree rings formed in the 8th century record a peak in cosmic ray activity - but what was the cause?

Go for a jog with a helicopter drone

Joggobot, a small quad-rotored robot, will fly in front of you as you run to set the pace and keep you motivated

Premature babies may have increased risk of psychosis

Babies born before 37 weeks may be at greater risk of a broad range of psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder and depression

'Western cancers' spreading to developing world

As developing countries become more affluent and adopt westernised lifestyles, cancers of the breast, colon and prostate are predicted to soar

Immune cells gobble up healthy but idle brain cells

Microglia destroy and eat under-used synapses in healthy brains - understanding how and why could help tackle neurodegenerative diseases

Geoengineering would turn blue skies whiter

The skies might change colour if geoengineers inject light-scattering aerosols into the upper atmosphere to combat global warming

Platelets could hold key to cancer and arthritis therapy

Plate-shaped fragments well known for helping clot blood might also play a key role in helping cancer spread and arthritis evolve

Obama 'gave full backing to Stuxnet attack on Iran'

A new book claims that Obama's administration was behind the infamous virus which wrecked centrifuges at Iran's uranium enrichment plant

Stepping back in time to Victorian science

The Enlightenment Caf?'s immersive performance takes you back to Victorian coffee houses where gin was the cure for most ills

Feedback: Luck of the Irish lottery

Beware of lottery scams, breathing life into old cemeteries, online TV upgrade hell, and more

Can SpaceX build the pick-up trucks of space?

The Dragon space freighter is a slick piece of engineering, but still has a fair way to go

UAVs fly wireless power to remote locations

Quadrotor UAVs could be used as flying wireless batteries to charge sensors in difficult-to-reach places

Chickadees get smarter as they move up mountains

The spatial recall of the songbirds that inhabit high regions of the western US is better the higher up they live, and their brains get bigger too

Over-55s pick passwords twice as secure as teenagers'

In the largest ever study of password security, password strength was found to vary across age groups and nationalities

Climate change will create a toxic brew for herbivores

As temperatures rise, herbivorous mammals will suffer greater effects from the toxins they eat, a compilation of studies suggests.

What insect societies tell us about cells

Could the destiny of social insects and human cells be controlled by the same mechanisms, ask Seirian Sumner and Solenn Patalano

Crew could have ridden in Dragon, claims Musk

The founder of the company that created the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the international space station is now turning his energies to crewed flights

New concerns over safety of arsenic in drinking water

Mice given low doses of arsenic in drinking water produce underdeveloped young, raising concerns over similar affects in humans

Rehab robot helps paralysed rats walk again

Rats paralysed by severe spinal cord damage have regained the ability to walk with the aid of a rehabilitating robot and a little motivation

Landmark Dragon spacecraft returns safely to Earth

The first commercial craft to dock with the International Space Station splashed down in the Pacific ocean today, completing a problem-free

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Saturday, June 2, 2012

Day 14: Olympic Flame to Visit Knowsley Safari Park and Cross The Mersey on Journey from Bolton to Liverpool

On Friday 1 June, the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay ? presented by Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung ? will travel from Bolton to Liverpool. The Olympic Flame will travel 93.82 miles through 17 communities.

(PRWEB) June 01, 2012

On Friday 1 June, the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay ? presented by Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung ? will travel from Bolton to Liverpool. The Olympic Flame will travel 93.82 miles through 17 communities.

157 Torchbearers will carry the Flame before it arrives at the Evening Celebration in Liverpool where a cauldron will be lit to mark the culmination of the day?s festivities. After the celebrations have finished, the Flame will be transferred to a lantern and it will stay in Liverpool overnight.

On Day 14 the Flame will be carried through the following communities:


Bolton, Horwich, Chorley, Euxton, Croston, Burscough, Ormskirk, Southport, Ainsdale, Formby, Crosby, St Helen?s, Huyton, Knotty Ash, Old Swan, Birkenhead and Liverpool.

The first Torchbearer of the day will be Antony Evitts, 16, from Bolton, who was nominated by Bolton Council for his excellence in swimming, will set off from the steps of the City Hall. Antony has represented the England Talent Programme from a young age, and has realised successes both regionally and nationally. From age 11 he has been ranked in the top six in Great Britain in four events. His biggest achievement to date is qualifying for two events in the 2010 British Championships, where he competed against the best swimmers in Great Britain. Antony is committed to his education at Canon Slade School and effectively manages both his sporting and academic career. Alongside his studies, he trains on a nationally acclaimed swimming programme which involves nine swimming and two gym sessions per week. Antony won the Bolton Sport and Physical Activity Award (BOSPAA) for Sports Achiever of the Year in 2010. His long term goal is to represent Great Britain at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

During the day the Flame will visit a number of iconic landmarks. Highlights include:

Anthony Gormley?s Another Place, Crosby. The Flame will be carried to Another Place by Jessica Wade, 15, from Liverpool, who was nominated in the LOCOG public nomination campaign for her time and dedication given to animals in need. The Flame will then be carried along Another Place by three different Torchbearers. Receiving the Flame from Jessica will be Paul Mcevoy, 25, Liverpool, who was selected through Coca Cola for the time and dedication that he gives to young people. Paul will then hand the Flame to Richard Webster, 45, from The Wirral, who was selected through Lloyds TSB for his efforts raising money for charities. Richard will then hand the Flame to Francis Meadows, 53, Liverpool, who was selected through Lloyds TSB for his 25 years of work at Crosby Stuart Junior Football.

Aintree Racecourse. Kimberley Cooper, 22, from Liverpool, who was nominated through the LOCOG campaign, will carry the Flame through the grandstands and out onto the racecourse. Kim was the ?Legend? vinspired National Award Winner for 2011. The award recognises someone who has successfully led a team of volunteers to make a difference. Kim volunteered at Leeds University as a Project Co-ordinator for ?Green Streets?, a project that stops re-usable items left by students in their halls of residence ending up in a landfill. Over two years she led her team to divert over 50 tonnes of re-usable material and created over 3,000 hours of volunteering for her team. She grew ?Green Streets? into a city-wide scheme bringing in multiple partnerships, including Leeds City Council, local community groups and other Universities.

Knowsley Safari Park, Prescot. The Flame will be carried around Knowsley Safari Park by Jane Campbell, 36, from Liverpool, who was selected through Lloyds TSB for her work in starting and running a Seniors Lunch Club in one of the most deprived areas of the country. This will include a visit to the Elephant Enclosure and the Giraffe Platform.

The Mersey Ferry, Birkenhead. The Flame will be carried into the jetty by Rebecca Blacklock, 19, from The Wirral, who was selected through Lloyds TSB for her dedication and commitment to voluntary work in the area. She will then hand the Flame to Craig Lundberg, 26, from Liverpool who will carry the Flame onto the ferry for the crossing across the Mersey. Craig was blinded whilst on service in Iraq in 2007 when a rocket propelled grenade blew in his face. Since his injuries Craig has, amongst many other things, played for the England blind football team, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for the Help the Heroes charity, worked in the community giving inspirational speeches to children and is a support to other wounded servicemen, he is also hoping to participate in the Paralympics in the GB blind football team. Despite his injuries Craig has a fighting spirit and doesn?t let anything get in his way, he has taken it in his stride turned it into a positive and become a role model for other people in a similar situation.

Other Torchbearers during the day will include:

Chris Boardman, 43, from West Kirby, will be carrying the Flame in Birkenhead. Chris Boardman MBE exploded onto the international cycling scene, and captured the British public?s imagination by winning the individual pursuit at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Chris went on to win two world titles on the track, three stages of the Tour de France and set numerous world records including the gruelling hour record shortly before his retirement from cycling in 2000. Chris has always been linked with cutting edge technology and his knowledge and experience became invaluable as he led British Cycling?s research and development team in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where they became the most successful British sporting team of all time. Outside of cycling, Chris ran the 2009 London Marathon for the National Autistic Society and launched the 5km Santa Dash on behalf of the Hoylake Cottage community hospital in West Kirby. Chris is truly an inspirational figure in the history of British sport.

Mel C, 38, London, will be carrying the Flame in Birkenhead. She has been part of one of the most successful Girl Bands of all time, The Spice Girls, and has since forged a name for herself as a sole artist achieving over 3 million album sales, two number 1 singles, six top 10 singles and over 200 combined weeks on the UK chart. Melanie has given a lot of time to various charities including Sport Relief where she has helped raise awareness of people in need in the UK and Worldwide. Melanie is a keen gymnast and dancer and is dedicated to making a difference to people's lives.

Cameron Small, 14, Preston, will be carrying the Flame in Southport. He has inspired so many young and old by his brave fight against a life threatening blood illness. This has included over 900 visits to hospital and harsh, painful treatments including four courses of chemotherapy and many others that have now made him a insulin dependent diabetic. Despite all this, from the age of four he has been an inspirational fundraiser, raising money to help other children and to make their time in hospital easier. He has so far raised an incredible ?115000 by organising things from simple raffles to mass sandcastle builds and has even sat in a bath of beans for hours. When he heard his beloved children?s hospital was to close and an appeal was being launched to raise ?20 million in just three years he decided that he must get involved and so three years later after many adventures and hard work, Cameron gave a speech at a gala celebration dinner thanking everyone who was involved for their efforts and that the total had been reached. For all his efforts, Cameron was made the first young ambassador for the Royal Manchester Children?s Hospital and has since been awarded many awards from the Children?s Champion to the Pride of Britain. He accepts them on behalf of all the other brave children and his moving speeches have had rooms full of celebrities in tears. Cameron has always wanted to be an Olympian and to carry the Olympic torch would mean that a brave and inspirational boys dream would have come true.

Stephanie Millward, 30, Swansea, will be carrying the Flame in Huyton. She was selected through the Coca-Cola Future Flames programme. Stephanie has always had a passion and love of sports not just because they are fun but also because they allow everyone the chance to work together which she feels is very important. Stephanie swims 9 sessions a week along with two gym sessions which allow her to compete for Great Britain which she enjoys. Stephanie hopes to compete and medal in seven events in London2012 and she hopes to continue teaching young children to swim.

Paul Hardaker, 41 from Liverpool, will be carrying the Flame in Ormskirk. He was nominated through the Lloyds TSB public nomination campaign. He is a long term Crohn's Disease sufferer and has recently sailed single-handedly around the UK, meeting sufferers at every port, to raise money for the Crohn's and colitis foundation.

Joseph Shaw, 17, from Kirkby, will be carrying the Flame in Huyton. Joe has two younger sisters who both have special needs and despite his young age Joe is a constant source of help to his family, often acting as a carer for his sisters. He helps out as a junior leader with local kids clubs and also helps at TANGO ? a local community group helping people come together.

The line-up includes music from The Wombats, a dance troupe who will provide a unique fusion of street performance, theatre and sport and dance act Twist and Pulse. There will also be entertainment from local acts staged by Liverpool City Council.

Towards the end of the two-hour show, the last Torchbearer of the day ? Craig Lundberg - will light a celebration cauldron on stage at the event which will enable the Olympic Flame to be seen by the audience.

The Olympic Torch Relay will also include exciting moments with extreme heights, high speeds and breath-taking spectacles and the Flame will be travelling by different methods of transport including horseback, bicycle, tram and steam-train. Every county in England and every Local Authority area in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will host the Olympic Flame, with visits reaching as far north as Lerwick in Scotland to St Helier in the south, Lowestoft in the east and Enniskillen in the west. Many thousands of people are expected to welcome the Olympic Flame along the route each day and celebrate the achievements of the Torchbearers in parks, squares and streets right around the UK.

The convoy travelling with the Flame consists of 14 core vehicles, including a pilot car, Torchbearer drop-off and pick-up shuttles, Presenting Partner vehicles, a media vehicle, a command car and security vehicles. The lead convoy, including the Presenting Partner vehicles, will provide entertainment for the crowds. The Torchbearer will follow some 5 to 7 minutes later.

A crew of approximately 350 people will be working each day of the Relay. Core teams of LOCOG staff, the Metropolitan Police Torch Security Team, Presenting Partners, host Police Forces and host Local Authorities will be working together throughout the 70 days.

James Williams, Director, Olympic Torch Relay, The Coca-Cola Company, said: ?We?re are now well into our second week of what is shaping up to be an incredible 70 day journey around the UK. We?re so excited to join with the crowds lining the streets to celebrate our inspirational Coca-Cola Future Flames as they carry the Olympic Flame through their local communities, for example today Stephanie Millward will be carrying the Flame in Huyton. We?re continuing to spread the magic of London 2012 across the United Kingdom, and will be getting everyone to Move to the Beat tonight as we bring The Wombats to the stage in Liverpool.?

Sally Hancock, Director, London 2012 Partnership at Lloyds Banking Group, said: ?The Olympic Torch Relay has had a phenomenal reception in each community is has touched over the last two incredible weeks. Every community has come out in force to feel the excitement of London 2012. Lloyds TSB is bringing as many opportunities as possible for people to get involved as the Olympic Flame passes their door. We?re calling on everyone to cheer their local Lloyds TSB Torchbearers ? extraordinary people like Tom Glynn and Rose Tyson, running in St Helen?s and Birkenhead. Our troupe of performers, the Flame Followers, are lighting up the celebrations along the route ahead of the Relay before their Flame Followers Spectacular at Liverpool?s iconic Pierhead tonight.?

Sunny Hwang, Vice President & Head of Global Sports Marketing, Samsung Electronics, said: ?Samsung's Olympic Torch Relay campaign shares the Olympic spirit and encourages everyone to take part in London 2012. Samsung has offered an inspiring opportunity to people around the world to carry the Olympic Flame, as part of our ambition to make London 2012 Everyone's Olympic Games.?

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office.

Notes to editors:

Each day two short packages of broadcast footage will be made available. The packages will be available via the Footage library ? accessible from the Media Centre on london2012.com and direct from this link http://footagelibrary.london2012.com. Media will need to register for access in advance. Registration is free.

The broadcast of the Olympic Torch Relay is provided for Editorial Use Only. There can be no commercial association, no third party association and no commercial/ad superimposition on the video footage, unless the prior written consent of the IOC is acquired.

About the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners:

As the longest standing Presenting Partner of the Olympic Torch Relay, Coca-Cola will be using its heritage and experience to spread excitement across the UK ahead of London 2012. Coca-Cola's national nomination campaign - Future Flames ? has focused on finding inspirational young people from across the country to have the once in a lifetime opportunity to carry the Olympic Flame. This summer Coca-Cola will celebrate these Future Flames: young people who use their passions in areas like sport and physical activity, music and dance, and community and the environment; to spread happiness in their local communities. Find out more at: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/olympic-games

As the only National Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, Lloyds TSB will be taking the inspiration and excitement of the Olympic Flame right to the heart of communities across the UK. As part of Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of Scotland will be the National Presenting Partner in Scotland. We are creating as many opportunities as possible for communities the length and breadth of the UK to get involved as the Flame travels past their front doors. Lloyds TSB?s troupe of performers the Flame Followers will be travelling ahead of the Flame to excite crowds with a unique fusion of street performance, theatre and sport celebrating the endeavour, athleticism, agility and skill of Olympic sporting heroes, Team GB.

Lloyds Banking Group is Britain?s biggest corporate investor in UK communities and in 2011 invested ?85 million and as part of the Group?s Community Investment Programme, we?ve launched the Lloyds Banking Group Community Fund to give back to the communities in which we operate and pass through on our journey with the Olympic Flame. We?re inviting everyone to visit the Lloyds TSB stand at each Evening Celebration to vote for a community project in their area that inspires and supports young people. By voting at the Evening Celebration members of the public will automatically enter a draw to win four tickets to London 2012. The two projects that receive the most votes at each locality will each win a ?5,000 grant from Lloyds Banking Group. At the Lloyds TSB site members of the public will also have the opportunity to have their photo taken with the Olympic Torch, meet Lloyds TSB Local Heroes ? the future stars of Team GB and ParalympicsGB ? and get up close to our Flame Followers. To find out how you can join in the celebrations with Lloyds TSB (in your community please visit http://www.lloydstsb.com/london2012)

As a Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, Samsung aims to encourage everyone to be part of the greatest show on Earth to make London 2012 ?Everyone?s Olympic Games.? We aspire to offer new and memorable experiences for everyone around the world through our own innovative and smart wireless technology. Samsung is providing 1,360 Torchbearers, who have ?gone the extra mile? by contributing to the local communities, through its worldwide public nomination campaign. In total over 25,000 nominations were received. Samsung will support towns and cities to celebrate the exciting moment of the Torch Relay and help showcase Great Britain?s cultural landmarks to provide a more enjoyable experience to everyone. The evening celebrations that will be staged by Samsung in 66 towns and cities throughout the Olympic Flame?s journey across the UK, will allow Samsung to entertain the community they are visiting. The Samsung caravan, complete with LED screen on the side showcasing runners and goodwill messages, will follow the Torchbearers around the UK cheering up everyone to celebrate the Torch Relay with music and interaction with local communities. It is Samsung?s ambition that London 2012 will be an event that reaches and involves more people than on any other Olympic Games occasion. To learn more about Samsung?s London 2012 Olympic programme, please visit http://www.samsung.com/london2012

The Supporters of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay are:


Worldwide Olympic Partners Procter and Gamble and Visa, Tier One Partners adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT and EDF, Tier Three Providers Aggreko, Holiday Inn and NATURE VALLEY.

The BBC will be providing extensive coverage of the Torch Relay on television, radio and online. This will include special Breakfast shows on every BBC local radio station, and extended live coverage of an evening celebration event in every Nation and English Region. Full details of the coverage will be at bbc.co.uk/2012.

London 2012 Games partners:


The Worldwide Olympic Partners who support the London 2012 Olympic Games and the National Olympic Committees around the world are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow Chemical Company, GE, McDonald?s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.

LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters ? Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS.

There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers ? Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield

London 2012 Press Office
London2012.com
+44 (0)203 2012 100
Email Information

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Human hands leave prominent ecological footprints

Human hands leave prominent ecological footprints [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 1-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: B. Rose Huber
rhuber@pitt.edu
412-624-4356
University of Pittsburgh

Pitt, LTER Network researchers urge decision makers to take historic human activity into account when creating environmental policy

PITTSBURGHEarly human activity has left a greater footprint on today's ecosystem than previously thought, say researchers working at the University of Pittsburgh and in the multidisciplinary Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, created by the National Science Foundation to investigate ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. Highlighted in the June issue of BioScience, the Pitt/LTER collaboration shows how historic human actions caused changes in nature that continue to reverberate throughout present-day ecosystems.

In the article, researchers take a retrospective look at the impact of human activity on LTER Network sites spanning states from Georgia to New Hampshire and propose methods for measuring the effects of such activity. The study of legacy effects is important because it provides insights into how today's actions can affect tomorrow's ecological systems, says Daniel Bain, coprincipal investigator at the Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER Network site and an assistant professor in the Department of Geology and Planetary Science in Pitt's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Bain notes that decision makers at all levels, including those creating policy, need historical information about ecosystems to make more effective environmental policies. In a democracy, says Bain, a diverse group of stakeholderssuch as outdoor enthusiasts like Trout Unlimited, fiscal watchdog groups such as Common Cause, and individual landownersneeds this kind of data to effectively engage in the management of common resources.

"Increasingly, we propose to manage our ecosystems with sophisticated and complicated strategies," Bain says. "For example, we are attempting to manage agricultural runoff by changing how streams and floodplains are arranged. However, while designing these strategies, we tend to address the most recent impacts rather than the entire history of impacts. This can lead to wasted effort and misuse of relatively limited resources."

Legacy effects from human activities are all around us, says Bain, but few people ever give them a thought. For example, urban systems accumulate a lot of human-made materials, some of which have large ecological footprints and will ultimately leave a legacy. Bain cites the example of lead, which has been banned from gasoline and paint in the United States for several decades but can remain in soils for much longer periods of time. "We should be careful about growing food close to roads or near old houses," he cautions.

In agriculture, areas that were plowed hundreds of years ago react differently to contemporary acid deposition from air pollutants when compared with adjacent unplowed areas. Similarly, our extensive use of cement may add substantial amounts of calcium to urban soils, although the ecological impact of this practice is not yet fully understood, Bain adds.

Indeed, many landscapes that provide baseline ecological data for evaluating environmental change were structured in part by previous human interactions, such as settlements and agricultural practices. To make sense of the observed ecological patterns on such landscapes, Bain says, we must know something of the history of the processes acting to shape those patterns. A recent example of the need for historical data associated with the impact of humans is the debate over global warming and its associated climate changethe legacy of increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases over millennia, but hugely accelerated since the industrial revolution and, especially, over the past several decades.

Bain points out that without a systematic collection of data recorded by the LTER Network, the broader geographical patterns of legacy effects would be much more difficult to detect. For example, scientists have discovered that recently glaciated areas have much less dirt accumulation than unglaciated areas. When Europeans first arrived in the eastern United States and dramatically changed local agricultural practices, eroded soil ultimately found its way into waterways. However, the glaciated areas produced less dirt, leaving less of an erosional signal in contrast to unglaciated areas, which lost more dirt and left such erosional legacies as buried valley bottoms and filled harbors. "In terms of policy, the management of glaciated and unglaciated areas requires different approaches," Bain says.

Nevertheless, Bain says, "although LTER sites have decades of data to draw from, we do not necessarily capture these changes, even with our best multidecade studies. It's hard to know what we might have been able to understand now had the LTER Network been established six or nine decades ago instead of three."

Another major benefit of the LTER approach, according to Bain, is the network of scientists that can jointly design a study, analyze the data, and produce such synthetic work efficiently. This type of historical analysis would take a small scientific team much longer to produce and perhaps be restricted to a smaller geographical and time scale than this regional synthesis of historical human legacies at long-term research sites in the eastern United States, Bain emphasizes.

###

About Pitt

A nonsectarian, coeducational, state-related, public research university founded in 1787, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is an internationally renowned center for learning and research in the arts, sciences, humanities, professions, and the health sciences. The University offers approximately 400 programs in 16 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools and confers 7,800 degrees annually. With more than 35,000 students and 12,600 faculty, research associates, and staff on five campuses, Pitt has an annual budget of $1.74 billion.

About LTER

The LTER program was created in 1980 by the National Science Foundation to conduct research on ecological issues that can last decades and span huge geographical areas. The network brings together a multi-disciplinary group of more than 2000 scientists and graduate students. The 26 LTER sites encompass diverse ecosystems in the continental Unites States, Alaska, Antarctica, and islands in the Caribbean and the Pacificincluding deserts, estuaries, lakes, oceans, coral reefs, prairies, forests, alpine and Arctic tundra, urban areas, and production agriculture.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Human hands leave prominent ecological footprints [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 1-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: B. Rose Huber
rhuber@pitt.edu
412-624-4356
University of Pittsburgh

Pitt, LTER Network researchers urge decision makers to take historic human activity into account when creating environmental policy

PITTSBURGHEarly human activity has left a greater footprint on today's ecosystem than previously thought, say researchers working at the University of Pittsburgh and in the multidisciplinary Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, created by the National Science Foundation to investigate ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. Highlighted in the June issue of BioScience, the Pitt/LTER collaboration shows how historic human actions caused changes in nature that continue to reverberate throughout present-day ecosystems.

In the article, researchers take a retrospective look at the impact of human activity on LTER Network sites spanning states from Georgia to New Hampshire and propose methods for measuring the effects of such activity. The study of legacy effects is important because it provides insights into how today's actions can affect tomorrow's ecological systems, says Daniel Bain, coprincipal investigator at the Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER Network site and an assistant professor in the Department of Geology and Planetary Science in Pitt's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Bain notes that decision makers at all levels, including those creating policy, need historical information about ecosystems to make more effective environmental policies. In a democracy, says Bain, a diverse group of stakeholderssuch as outdoor enthusiasts like Trout Unlimited, fiscal watchdog groups such as Common Cause, and individual landownersneeds this kind of data to effectively engage in the management of common resources.

"Increasingly, we propose to manage our ecosystems with sophisticated and complicated strategies," Bain says. "For example, we are attempting to manage agricultural runoff by changing how streams and floodplains are arranged. However, while designing these strategies, we tend to address the most recent impacts rather than the entire history of impacts. This can lead to wasted effort and misuse of relatively limited resources."

Legacy effects from human activities are all around us, says Bain, but few people ever give them a thought. For example, urban systems accumulate a lot of human-made materials, some of which have large ecological footprints and will ultimately leave a legacy. Bain cites the example of lead, which has been banned from gasoline and paint in the United States for several decades but can remain in soils for much longer periods of time. "We should be careful about growing food close to roads or near old houses," he cautions.

In agriculture, areas that were plowed hundreds of years ago react differently to contemporary acid deposition from air pollutants when compared with adjacent unplowed areas. Similarly, our extensive use of cement may add substantial amounts of calcium to urban soils, although the ecological impact of this practice is not yet fully understood, Bain adds.

Indeed, many landscapes that provide baseline ecological data for evaluating environmental change were structured in part by previous human interactions, such as settlements and agricultural practices. To make sense of the observed ecological patterns on such landscapes, Bain says, we must know something of the history of the processes acting to shape those patterns. A recent example of the need for historical data associated with the impact of humans is the debate over global warming and its associated climate changethe legacy of increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases over millennia, but hugely accelerated since the industrial revolution and, especially, over the past several decades.

Bain points out that without a systematic collection of data recorded by the LTER Network, the broader geographical patterns of legacy effects would be much more difficult to detect. For example, scientists have discovered that recently glaciated areas have much less dirt accumulation than unglaciated areas. When Europeans first arrived in the eastern United States and dramatically changed local agricultural practices, eroded soil ultimately found its way into waterways. However, the glaciated areas produced less dirt, leaving less of an erosional signal in contrast to unglaciated areas, which lost more dirt and left such erosional legacies as buried valley bottoms and filled harbors. "In terms of policy, the management of glaciated and unglaciated areas requires different approaches," Bain says.

Nevertheless, Bain says, "although LTER sites have decades of data to draw from, we do not necessarily capture these changes, even with our best multidecade studies. It's hard to know what we might have been able to understand now had the LTER Network been established six or nine decades ago instead of three."

Another major benefit of the LTER approach, according to Bain, is the network of scientists that can jointly design a study, analyze the data, and produce such synthetic work efficiently. This type of historical analysis would take a small scientific team much longer to produce and perhaps be restricted to a smaller geographical and time scale than this regional synthesis of historical human legacies at long-term research sites in the eastern United States, Bain emphasizes.

###

About Pitt

A nonsectarian, coeducational, state-related, public research university founded in 1787, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is an internationally renowned center for learning and research in the arts, sciences, humanities, professions, and the health sciences. The University offers approximately 400 programs in 16 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools and confers 7,800 degrees annually. With more than 35,000 students and 12,600 faculty, research associates, and staff on five campuses, Pitt has an annual budget of $1.74 billion.

About LTER

The LTER program was created in 1980 by the National Science Foundation to conduct research on ecological issues that can last decades and span huge geographical areas. The network brings together a multi-disciplinary group of more than 2000 scientists and graduate students. The 26 LTER sites encompass diverse ecosystems in the continental Unites States, Alaska, Antarctica, and islands in the Caribbean and the Pacificincluding deserts, estuaries, lakes, oceans, coral reefs, prairies, forests, alpine and Arctic tundra, urban areas, and production agriculture.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


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Objective Conservative: Bloomberg's 16 Ounce Drinks: Government ...

We've often commented here that the time will come when citizens of this formerly great country will wake up at a prescribed time in the morning, take their showers using prescribed products, put on their prescribed uniforms, eat their prescribed breakfasts, take their prescribed manner of mass transit to their job where they will work under prescribed conditions, take their prescribed breaks and lunches eating only their prescribed products and doses, return to their prescribed abodes via appropriately prescribed mass transit, have their prescribed meals, do their prescribed exercises, listen to prescribed mass media and turn in for a prescribed number of hours of sleep before waking to the same 'ground-hog day' repeat of their lives.

Every day, we see more and more of this vision affecting our lives.?? Restaurants are told what they can serve children, calorie counts which are ignored are posted next to the prices of the food on your menus.? The government knows what you can and should eat, how you should live.

And now in what surely will spread like some epidemic across our country New York City's Mayor Bloomberg thinks he can legislate people's state in his nanny state environment by limiting the size of sugary drinks people by limiting restaurants, ball parks, etc., to selling drinks in sizes not to exceed 16 ounces.???

Let's face it, YOU ARE NOT CAPABLE OF MAKING DECISIONS FOR YOUR SELF.??? YOU ARE NOT CAPABLE OF BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN LIFE.

Forget that you might just go buy and drink two 16 ounce sugary drinks, or more.? Forget that you might still order that 1080 calorie extra value meal despite the calorie count next to price.?? Government will deal with that later.??? Maybe government will issue 'ration' stamps or ration e-cards, that will be required to buy any of these horrible bad-for-you products.??

What should strike everyone in this country at some point is that government and those folks you elect truly believe it is right for them to control your behavior.?? The simple premise is that you are not capable of making the least of decisions in your life for yourself let alone the major ones.

What should further and more importantly strike everyone is that if government can make decisions as to whether you can order a happy meal for your kid, or a 32 ounce latteyour life. , it can virtually decide everything that you do in?

Bloomberg and his ilk believe that government should control virtually all aspect of your life and decision making.?? If we don't stop this mentality, we will behave exactly as we portrayed in our first paragraph.

For those of you who want a little more on this, check out the below DNAinfo:


ASTOR PLACE ? The city's proposed ban on jumbo-sized sugary sodas could put the freeze on many a New Yorker's morning fix ? a large Starbucks Frappuccino.
Caffeine-addicted New Yorkers were steaming mad Thursday over Mayor Michael Bloomberg?s plan to ban sugar-sweetened beverages over 16 ounces, including large Cokes at Yankee Stadium.

But what made some people's cups run over was the threat placed on another hometown favorite ? Starbucks' sugary treat.

Bloomberg's plan wouldn't cover large beverages that contain more than 51 percent milk, because dairy is considered to have redeeming nutritional value. While several administration officials said they believed Frappuccinos would likely be spared because the coffee concoctions hit the dairy quota, Starbucks employees disagreed.

?There?s very, very little [milk in them],? said one barista at Astor Place. ?Definitely not half,? she said, pointing to a marker about a half-inch up the cup.
The news had many Frappuccino fans fuming.

?I think that's horrible,? said Eileen Ko, a 20-year-old student from Queens, as she was walking around Astor Place.

"Frappuccinos are what makes the summer the summer. Without them, life would suck."

?I think he?s just gone way overboard with the whole cutting out the sugar thing,? agreed Mildred Payne, another Frappuccino devotee, between sips of her mocha cookie crumble frap.

?I do understand that we have an obesity problem, but there comes a time when the government simply should stand aside and let us do what we have to do," she said. ?Stepping in and telling us what to drink, large drink, whatever is just not right.?

The Frappuccino, whose trademarked name was invented by Starbucks, is a blend of ice, milk and flavorings such as toffee nut syrup, usually topped with whipped cream. The most popular version, the caramel Frappuccino, packs 64 grams of sugar ? the equivalent of almost three Hersey bars.

Bloomberg?s plan, which could be implemented as early as this March, would bar restaurants, fast food joints, delis, movie theaters, sports stadiums and even food carts from selling sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces ? smaller than a standard bottle of soda.

The move is intended to curb the rising tide of obesity, which Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said is closely linked to the consumption of empty calories in sodas and other drinks.
?We think it?s an especially important target in obesity reduction," he said.

The proposed soda rules are fraught with apparent contradictions. Big Gulp sodas and super-sized Slurpees at convenience stores like 7-Eleven that can pack upwards of 700 calories each are okay, while a large, sweetened Starbucks tea, at 200 calories (with non-fat milk), is not.

The same 20-ounce bottle of Coke would be allowed for sale in a bodega or a grocery store with a deli section, but would be banned from sale inside a city-defined deli, even on similar grocery shelves in the back.

That?s because the city would need Albany?s permission to ban products in grocery stores, which are regulated by the state. Rules governing the city's restaurants, delis and concession stands can be changed by the Board of Health.

Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson said that, while he expects criticism, especially from the beverage industry, he expects people to eventually embrace the regulations, just like the ban on smoking in city restaurants and bars.

?I think people will come to see this as very much in the interest of public health,? he said, adding that he also expects the idea to start a nationwide trend, which could trigger an industry-wide change in package sizing.
?I suspect that in five years, or 10 years, you?re going to have people going up to this mayor of the city and saying, ?Thank you for doing that. This is what helped me lose weight and save my life,'? he said.


Starbucks did not immediately respond to requests for clarification about which menu items would be banned, but said the company has ?developed an extensive portfolio of products? that includes beverages without sugar and sugar-free syrups.

?As Starbucks offers more than 170,000 ways to customize your beverage, we believe many of our beverages would fall outside of the proposed ban,? a Starbucks company spokeswoman said.

The Bloomberg administration does not intend to consult the City Council, which Wolfson was quick to point out had been critical of the city?s restaurant letter grading system before later embracing the plan.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is widely seen as an ally of the mayor, said she was concerned by the idea.

?It seems punitive and I worry that in the end, this proposal won't yield a positive result,? she said, stressing that, when it comes to fighting obesity, knowledge and healthy available options were key.
?Limiting people's choices is not about knowledge, empowerment or access,? she said.
The plan is also drawing fire from companies that would be forced to retool menus and shuffle stock.

?Public health issues cannot be effectively addressed through a narrowly-focused and misguided ban. This is a complex topic, and one that requires a more collaborative and comprehensive approach,? McDonald?s said in a statement, noting that the company offers numerous low-calorie menu items.

?We trust our customers to make the choices that are best for them,? the said.
The New York City Beverage Association also railed against what it called an ?unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks.? ?These zealous proposals just distract from the hard work that needs to be done on this front,? they said.

Other residents agreed.

?It?s definitely not anyone?s business to monitor people?s obesity,? said Adele Johns, 19, another Starbucks devotee who lives in Tribeca.

Others were more blunt.

?He disgusts me,? said Nick, a Starbucks customer who declined to give his last name, referring to the mayor.

?I drink four coffees a day with probably three packets of sugar and I'd like Mike Bloomberg to take off his shirt and stand next to me and see who looks better,? said the 33-year-old health care worker between sips on a sweetened Venti iced coffee with milk.

But Kate Rube, who works at a non-profit, sided with the mayor.

?I think the ban is a good idea. I personally don?t drink a lot of large beverages but I think, in general, we've had portion sizes get really large in this country over time,? said Rube, 32, adding that the obesity epidemic is both expensive and harmful to the country.

?I think things that we can do to help people make healthier choices is a good thing,? she said.

With reporting by Tuan Nguyen
How the Ban Will Affect You:
New Yorkers may be going into sugar shock over the proposed city ban on super-sized sodas, but some are confused about where they can and can't indulge.

DNAinfo.com New York has the breakdown of where the city's ban on sodas and other sugar-sweetened drinks larger than 16 oz. would apply.

The restriction will apply to all Food Service Establishments, including:
? Restaurants
? Coffee Shops
? Fast Food Counters
? Movie Theater Concession Stands
? Stadium and Arena Concession Stands
? Food Carts
? Delis
A good way to tell whether a location in affected is to check whether it receives a letter health inspection grade from the city?s Health Department.

Size restrictions will also apply to mobile food carts that are not yet graded by the city.

At those locations:
? All sugar-sweetened sodas over 16 ounces will be banned.
? Cups larger than 16 ounces will be banned at self-service soda fountains, even if a customer wants a diet option. Unlimited refills would still be allowed.
Still allowed, at any size:
? Low-calorie drinks that contain less than 25 calories per 8 ounces, including diet sodas, teas and fruit drinks.
? Unsweetened coffees and teas.
? Drinks that are at least 70 percent fruit or vegetable juice.
? Dairy drinks that contain at least 51 percent milk or milk substitute by volume, including milkshakes and sweetened lattes.
? Alcoholic drinks

Customers who want to purchase more than 16 ounces of a sugary drink will still be able to purchase more than one or refill their cups.

The restrictions will NOT apply to grocery stores, convenience stores or bodegas, including Slurpees and Big Gulps at 7-Eleven."

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Friday, June 1, 2012

Spain tries to calm investors amid market pressure

A miner throws a firecracker at the Industry Ministry during a demonstration to protest against cuts in Madrid, Thursday, May 31, 2012. Miners coming from all around Spain demonstrate in Madrid amid fear on losing their jobs. Spain is moving closer to the financial tipping-point that could force it to ask for a bailout as the country's borrowing costs neared unsustainable levels Wednesday. The country's economic fortunes have gone from boom to bust over the past decade.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

A miner throws a firecracker at the Industry Ministry during a demonstration to protest against cuts in Madrid, Thursday, May 31, 2012. Miners coming from all around Spain demonstrate in Madrid amid fear on losing their jobs. Spain is moving closer to the financial tipping-point that could force it to ask for a bailout as the country's borrowing costs neared unsustainable levels Wednesday. The country's economic fortunes have gone from boom to bust over the past decade.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

A man rummages through a recycling trash container in front of the Bankia bank headquarters in Madrid, Thursday May 31, 2012. The European Union urged Spain on Thursday to come clean on how it plans to finance the overhaul of its banking sector, warning that uncertainty over this has contributed the recent market turmoil and the country's soaring borrowing costs. A European Commission spokesman, Amadeu Altafaj, told Spanish National Radio that the conservative government in Madrid needed to spell out quickly how it plans to finance the recapitalization of troubled lender Bankia SA and whether there are other banks burdened by toxic real estate assets that might need assistance. (AP Photo/Paul White)

A woman leaves a bank as a piece of cardboard holds on the entrance reading, ''Closed by Cynicism'' during a march against cutback plans by Spain's government in Pamplona, northern Spain, Thursday, May 31, 2012. The European Union urged Spain Thursday to come clean on how it plans to finance the overhaul of its banking sector, warning that uncertainty over this has contributed the recent market turmoil and soaring borrowing costs. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

People protest in front a bank during the protest against cutback plans by Spain's government in Pamplona, northern Spain, Thursday, May 31, 2012. The European Union urged Spain Thursday to come clean on how it plans to finance the overhaul of its banking sector, warning that uncertainty over this has contributed the recent market turmoil and soaring borrowing costs. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

(AP) ? Spain's finance minister claimed the country was fiscally stable now that its autonomous regions were meeting deficit reduction targets, but investors remained wary and pushed the government's bond yields higher on Friday.

The 17 semi-autonomous regions ? whose high debts have helped fuel fears about the broader country's financial future ? will meet a target to get their collective deficits below 1.5 percent this year, Cristobal Montoro told a news conference.

They ran a deficit of 0.45 percent of GDP in the first quarter, and with ?5 billion in money from the central government ran a balanced budget.

"This means that since the beginning of the year the government's plan is working," said Montoro.

Most of Spain's excessive deficits in 2011 ? which at 8.9 percent were almost three times the EU limit of 3 percent ? came from the regions' overspending.

Eight of the regions, including powerful Catalonia in the northeast, saw their credit ratings downgraded this week by the Fitch agency. The ones that issues debt are paying high rates. Montoro said the government is close to completing a mechanism that will allow the regions to issue debt through the central government at lower rates.

Worries about Spain's deficits as well as its banking sector ? where expensive bailouts risk overwhelming public finances ? have pushed the central government's borrowing rates toward unsustainable levels. In midafternoon trading the interest rate on 10-year Spanish bonds stood was up 0.11 percentage points to 6.56. The rate was more than 5.4 percentage points higher than the equivalent German one, which is considered a safe haven for investors.

Despite the rise in cost, Montoro insisted Spain can meet its debt obligations. "Spain has the ability to make good on that debt in its entirety."

Concern about Spain and the wider 17-country eurozone has shaken financial markets in recent weeks, pushing the euro to a 2-year low on Friday.

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos this week that Spain and Europe were at a crossroads as speculation mounts over whether the country will need a bailout. The danger is that Spain's ?1 trillion ($1.24 trillion) economy is far bigger than those of already bailed-out Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined.

Spain's banking sector is laden with soured investments on real estate and the government needs ?19 billion to rescue just one lender, Bankia SA, at a time of recession and crushing unemployment of 24.4 percent.

"I don't know if we are on the edge of a cliff, but we are in a very, very difficult position," de Guindos said Thursday evening in a speech to business leaders in Sitges, a resort town near Barcelona. "The future of the euro is going to play out in the next few weeks in Spain and Italy."

Bond yields ? a measure of investor confidence in a country's debt ? were also very high in Italy, which has big debts and is in recession. Its 10-year bond yield rose to 5.93 percent on Friday on fears that it could be affected by the instability of Spain.

UBS Investment Research said there is no a consensus that the Spanish banking sector in general needs a big recapitalization. It estimated the sector needs between ?80 billion and ?100 billion in new funds.

"The Spanish State should be able to sustain the recapitalization costs without losing control of its finances," UBS analysts said in a note to clients. "We recognize however that financing this intervention in current market conditions will be difficult."

De Guindos supported the recent proposal by the European Commission for a centralized banking authority with the financial capacity to to inject capital directly into troubled banks without having to go through governments first.

He also said Europe needs a regional bank deposit insurance plan like the United States has and a "banking union" to coordinate regulation among countries.

German, however, opposes the idea of a centralized authority that can spend money ? much of which Berlin supplies ? directly on shaky banks.

"We don't see now how such ideas are supposed to help with the short-term management of the current questions," said German Finance Ministry spokesman Johannes Blankenheim. "The fiscal compact is the beginning of the fiscal union and, as a perspective, one can imagine stronger (banking) supervision."

Top financial officials, however, have been warning European leaders they must take action before it is too late.

European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said this week that the setup of the eurozone was unsustainable and called for measures, such as a banking union, as proposed by the European Commission.

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick made similar points in an opinion piece printed in the Financial Times on Friday.

"Eurozone leaders may be nearing a 'break the glass' moment: when one smashes the pane protecting the emergency fire alarm," Zoellick wrote in the paper. He likewise supported the idea of having a central authority that can put money into ailing banks.

Despite is resistance to such a move, Germany did back the European Commission's proposal to give Spain more time to reduce its deficit. It stood at 8.9 percent of GDP last year, and the goal is to get it down to 5.3 percent by the end of 2012.

Blankenheim noted that Spain has stated its intention of cutting the deficit to 3 percent by next year, "but we also see that, because of unfavorable economic developments, it could be difficult to reach these targets."

"Spain is fulfilling its commitments in the deficit proceedings and so there is no reason to escalate the proceedings against Spain," Blankenheim told reporters in Berlin. "The Spanish government is tackling with determination the necessary reform measures, and the German government is convinced that this determination will be mirrored on the markets."

___

Geir Moulson contributed from Berlin.

Associated Press

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Methane on Mars is not an indication of life

ScienceDaily (May 31, 2012) ? It was a sensation when scientists discovered methane in Mars' atmosphere nine years ago. Many saw the presence of the gas as a clear indication of life on the inhospitable planet, as on Earth methane is produced predominantly by biological processes. Others assumed geological processes, such as volcanoes, to be the cause. What has been missing until now is proof of where the methane actually comes from, however.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and the universities in Utrecht and Edinburgh have now been able to show that methane escapes from a meteorite if it is irradiated with ultraviolet light under Martian conditions. Since meteorites and interplanetary dust from space, which carry along carbonaceous compounds, continuously impact on the Martian surface, the researchers conclude that high-energy UV radiation triggers the release of methane from the meteorites.

Since scientists identified larger quantities of methane in the Martian atmosphere in 2003, there has been much speculation about its source. The best-known hypothesis states that microorganisms produce the methane, and is thus an indication of life on the red planet. Another hypothesis assumes the source to be geological methane sources in Mars' interior. To date, none of the theories has been able to conclusively explain the large quantity of 200 to 300 tonnes of methane annually which are produced on Mars, according to projections.

Without an expedition to Mars and with nothing more than a meteorite to help them, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and the universities in Utrecht and Edinburgh have now found a major source. "Methane is produced from innumerable, small micro-meteorites and interplanetary dust particles that land on the Martian surface from space," explains Frank Keppler, lead author of the study now published in the research journal Nature. "The energy is provided by the extremely intense ultraviolet radiation," adds the atmospheric chemist.

UV light decomposes carbon compounds in meteoritic matter

Unlike Earth, Mars has no protective ozone layer which could absorb most of the UV radiation from space. Moreover, the Martian atmosphere is very thin, so that a significantly smaller portion of the meteoritic material burns up in the atmosphere compared to Earth.

Together with colleagues from Great Britain and the Netherlands, the researchers from Mainz irradiated samples of the Murchison meteorite with ultraviolet light. "The meteorite contains several percent carbon and has a similar chemical composition to most of the meteoritic matter that lands on Mars," says the cosmochemist Ulrich Ott. The 4.6 billion-year-old meteorite fell to Earth in 1969 in the Australian town of Murchison. The researchers selected conditions identical to those on Mars for the UV irradiation, which caused considerable quantities of methane to escape from the meteorite almost immediately. Their conclusion: carbonaceous compounds in the meteoritic matter are decomposed by the high-energy UV radiation, and methane molecules are formed in the process.

The methane production from meteorites depends on temperature

Since the temperature on the red planet varies from minus 143 degrees Celsius at the poles to plus 17 degrees Celsius at Mars' equator, the scientists also investigated the meteoritic samples at appropriate temperatures. The warmer it became, the more methane was released by the meteoritic fragments. This temperature dependence also agrees with the different methane concentrations at different locations in the Martian atmosphere. In infrared spectra, the largest concentration of methane was found in the equatorial region, the warmest place on Mars, relatively speaking.

The results obtained by Frank Keppler's team should bring "down to earth" all those who firmly believe in the biological origin of the methane. The researchers cannot fully exclude the hypothesis of Martian microbes, however, because, although the process found here is inevitable, it is quite possible that further processes contribute to methane production. The researchers hope that Curiosity, the Mars Rover that NASA expects to land on our neighbouring planet at the beginning of August, will provide more details on the formation of methane, and maybe even final clarification as to whether there is life on Mars.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Frank Keppler, Ivan Vigano, Andy McLeod, Ulrich Ott, Marion Fr?chtl, Thomas R?ckmann. Ultraviolet-radiation-induced methane emissions from meteorites and the Martian atmosphere. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11203

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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