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Friday, 26 September 2014

SCIENCE NEWS: Study finds solar system’s water older than the sun

Thu, Sep 25 14:02 PM EDT
By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL Fla (Reuters) - Water found in Earth's oceans, in meteorites and frozen in lunar craters predates the birth of the solar system, a study published on Thursday shows, a finding with implications for the search for life on other planets.

Scientists have long debated whether the solar system's water came from ice ionized during the formation of the solar system, or if it predated the solar system and originated in the cold interstellar cloud of gas from which the sun itself was formed.

The study was published in this week's issue of the journal Science.

"It's remarkable that these ices survived the entire process of stellar birth," lead researcher Lauren Cleeves, told Reuters.

Cleeves, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan, had been studying how radioactivity, galactic cosmic rays and other high-energy phenomena impact planet-forming disks of matter that circle young stars.

The "aha" moment, she said, was realizing that conditions in the early solar system weren't right for synthesizing new water molecules.

"Without any new water creation, the only place these ices could have come from was the chemically rich interstellar gas out of which the solar system formed," she said.

To prove the point, she and colleagues ran computer models comparing ratios of hydrogen with its heavier isotope, deuterium, which has been enriching the solar system's water over time.

To reach the ratios found in meteorite samples, as well as in Earth's ocean water and comets, at least some of the water would have had to be formed before the sun's birth, the scientists concluded.

The process likely would be the same for other solar systems as well, suggesting conditions hospitable for life could exist beyond Earth.

Also this week, a second paper in Science notes the discovery of a branched carbon-containing molecule involved in the creation of stars.

The molecule, known as iso-propyl cyanide (i-C3H7CN), was discovered in a giant gas cloud called Sagittarius B2, the most massive star-forming region in the Milky Way, by Chile's ALMA observatory.

"Understanding the production of organic material at the early stages of star formation is critical to piecing together the gradual progression from simple molecules to potentially life-bearing chemistry," lead researcher Arnaud Belloche, with the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, said in a statement.

(irene.klotz@thomsonreuters.com; editing by Andrew Hay)

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SCIENCE Nobel Prize science predictions see honors for pain, LEDs and more

08:57 No comments

By Sharon Begley

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scientists who discovered phenomena as different as the molecular mechanisms of pain, organic light-emitting diodes that illuminate mobile phones and a new quantum state of matter are top contenders for Nobel prizes next month, according to an annual analysis by Thomson Reuters.

The predictions announced on Thursday come from the Intellectual Property & Science unit of Thomson Reuters (which also owns the Reuters news service). Since 2002, it has accurately predicted 35 Nobel laureates, including nine who won in the year of the forecast and 16 who won within two years.

IP&S, which sells data, bases its forecasts on scientists' citations, or references to their published papers by others.

Citations can reflect how influential a study was, but are not a perfect benchmark. Breakthroughs in specialized fields could have few citations while a lesser finding in a popular one could have many.

But some citations are essentially tips-of-the-hat by one scientist to another and can indicate standing in a field. Since Nobel nominations come from past winners and other eminences, reputation counts.

The IP&S analysts predicted seven possible winners in medicine and physics and eight in chemistry. The Nobel committees honor a maximum of three scientists in each field, so predicting more than twice that number increases the odds of being right.

For the Nobel Prize in medicine, which will be announced on Oct. 6 in Stockholm, the Thomson Reuters analysis shows deserving discoveries going back decades.

David Julius of the University of California, San Francisco, is in contention for discovering the cellular receptor for the hot-pepper molecule capsaicin in the late 1990s. He worked out how it is activated by capsaicin as well as heat, triggering pain.

Discoveries by three other contenders overturned the belief that humans are 99 percent alike at the DNA level. In 2004 one of the trio, Michael Wigler of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, found that more than 10 percent of the genome contains DNA that is duplicated as if by a biological photocopier run amok. Such "copy number variations" are associated with autism, schizophrenia and other devastating disorders.

This year might finally be the charm for breakthroughs from the early days of molecular genetics, specifically discoveries by James Darnell and Robert Roeder of Rockefeller University, and Robert Tjian of UC Berkely, of how DNA is transcribed within cells so proteins can be synthesized.

The Nobel Prize in physics, to be announced on Oct. 7, may also recognize achievement from a past decade. One contender whom Thomson Reuters highlights is Charles Kresge of Saudi Aramco, whose breakthrough invention of molecular sieves, now used as industrial catalysts, came in 1992.

In chemistry, Ching Tang of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Steven Van Slyke of Silicon Valley start-up Kateeva Inc are in contention for inventing organic light-emitting diodes, which became ubiquitous in smartphones, tablets and high-definition televisions.

If Thomson Reuters' crystal ball is right, lay people will have their work cut out for them trying to understand some of the achievements. One physicist deemed to have a shot described how "spin frustration causes sinusoidal antiferromagnetic ordering," while three in contention for chemistry developed "the reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization process."

(Reporting by Sharon Begley, editing by Michele Gershberg and Cynthia Osterman)

CELEBRITY NEWS: UNAIDS appoints Victoria Beckham goodwill ambassador

08:57 No comments

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on Thursday named fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham a goodwill ambassador.

Beckham, who said she was inspired to help after a "life-changing" visit to HIV clinics in South Africa, will focus on working toward ensuring that all children are born free from HIV and that children and women who are living with and affected by HIV have access to medicines and care, UNAIDS said.

"It's taken me getting to 40 years old to realize I have a responsibility as a woman, as a mother, I have a voice that people will listen to," she told a news conference at the United Nations on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

"I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know everything right now, I don't, I'm learning," said Beckham, adding that she planned to take field trips to learn more about the problem and how she could help.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region hardest hit by HIV, with 24.7 million HIV-positive people in 2013. Women account for 58 percent of those with HIV in the region, which is also home to 85 percent of pregnant women with HIV, according to UNAIDS.

Last month Beckham auctioned off 600 pieces of clothing, including several evening dresses, to raise money and awareness for mothers living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

UNAIDS said that in 2013, one third of pregnant women living with HIV did not have access to the life-saving medicines and some 240,000 children became infected with HIV. But in the past five years access to antiretroviral medicines for pregnant women with HIV helped 900,000 children to be born without HIV.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Diane Craft)

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SCIENCE NEWS: SpaceX Dragon capsule reaches space station

08:56 No comments

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. - A Space Exploration Technologies cargo ship carrying an experimental 3-D printer and a habitat with 20 mice arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, ending a two-day journey.

Working from inside the station's windowed cupola module, flight engineer Alexander Gerst, a European Space Agency astronaut, used the station's 58-foot-long (18m) robotic arm to pluck the Dragon capsule from orbit at 6:52 a.m. EDT as the ships sailed 262 miles (422 km) over the Pacific Ocean.

"This was, indeed, a great flight of Dragon," Gerst radioed to NASA Mission Control in Houston. "We're happy to have a new vehicle on board."

The capsule blasted off on Sunday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, which is built and flown by privately owned SpaceX, as the company is known. Including a 2012 test flight, Dragon cargo ships have now flown to the station five times.

The capsule is loaded with more than 5,000 pounds (2,268 kgs) of food, supplies and science gear, including an experimental 3-D printer designed to work in the zero-gravity environment of space and 20 mice that will be subjects in medical experiments to assess bone and muscle loss during long-duration spaceflights.

Dragon's unpressurized trunk compartment holds a $26 million instrument called RapidScat that will be robotically attached to the outside of the station to measure wind speeds over the oceans.

California-based SpaceX, which is owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, is one of two companies NASA hired to fly cargo to the station after the space shuttles were retired in 2011. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract for the work, which covers 12 flights.

Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp runs a second U.S. supply line to the station under a $1.9 billon contract. Its next flight is scheduled for Oct. 21.

SpaceX last week won a second, $2.6 billion NASA contract to upgrade the Dragon capsules to fly astronauts. A test flight is targeted for 2016.

The U.S. space agency also awarded a $4.2 billion contract to Boeing to develop a second space taxi that launches aboard pricy United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets. United Launch Alliance is a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

'Maze Runner' speeds past Neeson's 'Tombstones' at box office

07:24 No comments

Mon, Sep 22 16:08 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Dystopian young adult movie "The Maze Runner" won the weekend box office race in the United States and Canada, collecting $32.5 million in ticket sales to outpace the Liam Neeson action flick, "A Walk Among the Tombstones."

Neeson's film earned $13.1 million from Friday through Sunday and finished in second place, according to estimates from tracking firm Rentrak. Comedy "This is Where I Leave You" landed in the No. 3 slot with $11.9 million at domestic theaters.

"Maze Runner" fell slightly short projections for a start of $34 million, the forecast of Box Office Mojo.

The movie stars MTV "Teen Wolf" heartthrob Dylan O'Brien as one of a group of boys living in an isolated paradise where they are trapped by a giant, moving concrete maze. The movie, based on the first novel in a series written by James Dashner, is an attempt to capture the young adult audience that has propelled blockbusters like "The Hunger Games" and "Twilight."

"Maze Runner" opened overseas on Sept. 11, and global sales through Sunday totaled $81.5 million, distributor 20th Century Fox said. The film cost $30 million to make.

Chris Aronson, 20th Century Fox's president of domestic distribution, declared the film "a bona fide home run."

"When you give audiences a film that they want and they like, it's going to do well," said Aronson.

He confirmed that a sequel is in the works. "The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials" is set to open in September of 2015.

In "Walk Among the Tombstones," Neeson plays a private investigator hired by a drug kingpin to find out who murdered his wife. Neeson has earned success as an action star in recent hits "Non-Stop" and "Taken 2." "Tombstones" cost $28 million to make, according to Box Office Mojo.

"This is Where I Leave You," produced for about $20 million, features Tina Fey and Jason Bateman in the story of four grown siblings forced to live together for a week after their father dies.

Last weekend's winner, home invasion thriller "No Good Deed," fell to fourth place, grossing $10.2 million and bringing its total to $40.1 million. Family film "Dolphin Tale 2" took the No. 5 slot with $9 million in its second weekend.

"The Maze Runner" was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of 21st Century Fox. "Walk Among the Tombstones" was distributed in the United States by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp and in Canada by Entertainment One Group. "This is Where I Leave You" and "Dolphin Tale 2" were released by Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Sony Corp's movie studio released "No Good Deed."

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Marguerita Choy)

TOP NEWS Exclusive: Ukraine prime minister says Russians 'want us to freeze'

07:23 No comments

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The prime minister of the Kiev government accused Russia on Thursday of attempting to freeze Ukraine in the coming winter by using natural gas as a weapon to subjugate the former Soviet Republic.

"They want us to freeze. This is the aim and this is another trump card in Russian hands. So, except military offense, except military operation against Ukraine, they have another trump card, which is energy," Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

"The ultimate goal of Russia is to organize, to orchestrate another frozen conflict in Ukraine."

Russia's state-controlled energy company Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in June because of a row over Kiev's unpaid gas bill, raising concerns that the country may not be able to cover the peak-demand winter season.

The European Commission is aiming to propose an interim solution to the gas quarrel between Russia and Ukraine at talks it is brokering in Berlin on Friday.

Yatseniuk said there were no official negotiations on it, though he said a plan to help Ukraine secure additional gas "would be helpful for us."

A war between pro-Russian separatists has left more than 3,000 people dead. Kiev and Western governments have said it was direct Russian military intervention that tipped the battlefield balance in favor of rebels in eastern Ukraine and forced President Petro Poroshenko to call a ceasefire on Sept. 5 after big losses by government forces.

Russia, which opposes the pro-Western course of leadership in the ex-Soviet republic, has denied that its troops have participated in the war or provided arms to rebels.

Yatseniuk defended the Kiev government's decision to grant temporary autonomy to rebel regions, saying it was the least repugnant choice they had, as well as a "goodwill" move that demonstrated their commitment to a peaceful solution.

"We do understand that we had just two options: bad and worse," he said. "So the president and the government decided to take just the bad option."

He expressed little confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin as a partner in peace talks.

"I have no trust in President Putin," he said, adding that was why it was crucial to have the United States and European Union sitting with Ukraine at talks with Russia.

Echoing comments he made in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, Yatseniuk said EU and U.S. sanctions against Russia should remain in place until all of Ukraine is back under control of Kiev, including Crimea, a Black Sea region Russia annexed after an independence referendum in March.

"Russia has to pay the price," he said. "They want to get back to business as usual but we want to restore law and order, restore territorial integrity and independence of our country."

"This is the aim of the sanctions, to urge Russia to pull back its forces," he said. "To pull back its artillery and stop the supply of weapons and lethal aid to Russian-led terrorists and just to get out of Ukraine."

Asked if he was disappointed by the United States not supplying weapons to his government, Yatseniuk said Washington had taken the lead in pushing for international sanctions against Moscow and was likely to do more. He did not provide details. Poroshenko visited Washington last week.

A U.S. official said that for the time being the United States was not willing to consider providing Ukraine with weapons but it had not absolutely ruled it out over the long term. "The clear message last week was we're not ready to do that - now," the official said.

Any eventual discussion of arming Ukraine is sure to spark a debate in Washington over whether such action would strengthen Kiev's security by deterring Russia or simply provoke Moscow.

President Poroshenko's Moscow-backed predecessor Viktor Yanukovich fled to Russia in February in the face of mass street protests. Moscow denounced a pro-Western "coup" against him, annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and backed armed separatists in the heavily industrialized east in their drive for independence from Kiev.

The chain of events has provoked the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Additonal reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

TOP NEWS Brazil election poll shows Rousseff and Silva neck and neck

07:23 No comments

Thu, Sep 25 19:23 PM EDT

1 of 3

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her main challenger Marina Silva are running neck and neck if the October presidential election goes to a runoff, according to a poll published on Thursday.

Rousseff garnered 42 percent of voter support in an expected runoff while Silva had 41 percent, according to a survey by pollster Vox Populi. The difference is statistically insignificant based on the poll's margin of error.

The previous Vox Populi poll released on Tuesday, which was commissioned by TV Record network, showed Rousseff with a seven-point lead in a runoff, beating Silva by a 46 percent to 39 percent margin.

Vox Populi polls are not as closely watched by political analysts as those by bigger research firms Datafolha and Ibope, which are more frequent and survey more potential voters.

If no candidate wins a majority of valid votes in the Oct 5 first round, there will be a second round between the top, two vote winners on Oct 26.

In the first-round vote survey, Rousseff's support was 38 percent, down from 40 percent in the previous Vox Populi poll on Tuesday. Silva's support rose to 25 percent from 22 percent. Support for centrist candidate Aecio Neves was the same at 17 percent.

The Vox Populi poll surveyed 2,000 voters on Sept. 23-24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. It was commissioned by the Carta Capital magazine and the results were posted on the news weekly's website.

(Reporting by Jeb Blount; Writing by Anthony Boadle and Jeb Blount; editing by Andrew Hay)

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CROSS RIVER UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

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Friday, 26 September 2014

SCIENCE NEWS: Study finds solar system’s water older than the sun

SCIENCE Nobel Prize science predictions see honors for pain, LEDs and more

CELEBRITY NEWS: UNAIDS appoints Victoria Beckham goodwill ambassador

SCIENCE NEWS: SpaceX Dragon capsule reaches space station

'Maze Runner' speeds past Neeson's 'Tombstones' at box office

TOP NEWS Exclusive: Ukraine prime minister says Russians 'want us to freeze'

TOP NEWS Brazil election poll shows Rousseff and Silva neck and neck

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