Yahoo Space/Astronomy News of the day.

[Mrmcnuggets Profile]

US scientists recruit crocodiles to save wetlands
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110311/ts ... nvironment

MIAMI (AFP) – US scientists in the Florida Everglades are recruiting crocodiles and alligators in their fight to preserve the fragile wetlands by implanting satellite chips in their necks for the first time.

As the animals make their way through different parts of the sprawling national park they beam back information on changes in the ecosystem and its impact on their size and movement patterns.

"They are giving us important data... They are working for us," says Frank Mazzotti, an ecologist and expert in the large reptiles at the University of Florida.

The information is transferred by satellite to a computer application that uses Google maps to track the movements of the animals, who are captured and released in groups of around 15 at a time.

"Scientists use different parameters to track responses of alligators and crocodiles to changes in the ecosystem, including their number, their weight, their size and their places of habitat," Mazzotti said.

"All this information provides important data that is instrumental in analyzing the health of the Everglades? ecosystem" and in seeing whether past conservation efforts have succeeded.

Conservationists estimate there are between 500 and 1,200 crocodiles -- distinguished from alligators by their narrower snouts and exposed teeth -- in southern Florida.

The animals, which can grow to be 15 feet (4.5 meters) long and weigh up to 450 pounds (200 kilograms), have declined in number over recent years because of loss of habitat, illegal poaching and water pollution.

Like the many bird species that inhabit the Everglades, the fate of alligators and crocodiles is closely tied to water levels, which largely determine their food supply, Mazzotti said.

Falling water levels results in fewer plants, needed for nesting and shelter, as well as fewer fish to support the larger animals such as birds and reptiles.

An estimated 30,000 to 50,000 birds nest in the Everglades every year, a drastic reduction from the 1940s, when as many as 500,000 lived there, said Jerry Lorenz, of the Audobon of Florida, a conservation group.

"In more than half a century, it's been about a 90 percent decline on average," he said.

A succession of floods, hurricanes, fires and drought has produced a unique ecosystem in the Everglades with a wealth of rare plants and animals, including the crocodiles, manatees, flying squirrels and gray foxes that climb trees.

Conservationists fear that budget cuts could complicate efforts to conserve the wetlands, with a million visitors every year attracted to the Everglades National Park, a subtropical wilderness.

The popular French clothing brand Lacoste, which funds a global program to protect crocodiles called "Saving the Logo" after its own trademark, is contributing to the efforts to conserve crocodiles and alligators in the Everglades.

The company, founded by French tennis champion Rene Lacoste, is putting up some $150,000 over the next three years to help save crocodiles around the world.

"We are very pleased to participate in this new project that clearly emphasizes the importance and the key role of crocodiles and alligators in the ecosystem," said chief executive Christophe Chenut.

2011 Dates of Destruction? March 19, May 21, Oct. 21
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110311/sc_ ... y_21_oct21

It's an astronomical fact that March 19 will see a lunar perigee -- a time when the Earth's moon will come into its closest point in orbit to the Earth. The lunar perigee that will occur on March 19 has been dubbed by one astrologer, Richard Nolle, as an "extreme supermoon" because not only will it be at perigee, it will also be a full moon and it will be at its closest point to our planet in 18 years. According to Nolle, this particular combination will trigger an increase in natural disasters.

Nolle suggested that the supermoon will wreak havoc -- earthquakes, massive storms, volcanic activity and other disasters of natural occurrence. Nolle's assertions may have some basis in scientific fact (even though astrology is not an actual accepted science) -- according to seismologists.

Two seismologists quoted in an article on the website Life's Little Mysteries (a sister site of Space.com) said that just as the moon's gravity has an effect on Earth tides, it can also have a minimal effect on the land in what is known as "land tides" or "solid Earth tides." Ultimately, ocean tides and land tides can have an effect upon seismic activity.

University of Washington at Seattle seismologist and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, John Vidale, told Life's Little Mysteries that "you see a less-than-1-percent increase in earthquake activity, and a slightly higher response in volcanoes" during a new moon and a full moon.

Seismic activity in subduction zones can see the greatest effect from a lunar tide according to U of W Seattle seismologist William Wilcock: "When you have a low tide, there's less water, so the pressure on the seafloor is smaller. That pressure is clamping the fault together, so when it's not there, it makes it easier for the fault to slip." A subduction zone is a location where one tectonic plate slides under another -- such as the area of the Pacific Northwest.

End of the World on May 21 and October 21

A religious group isn't worried about the March 19 supermoon, but instead they have pegged a later date for a specific worldwide natural disaster -- the Apocalypse. According to a report on Daily Mail Online, a group from Family Radio Worldwide have predicted a massive worldwide earthquake on May 21 to herald the end of the world and the return of Jesus Christ.

The group believes this predicted earthquake on May 21 will be a precursor for the actual end-of-the-world date on October 21 of this year. The group is so convinced of the accuracy of the prophecy that a handful of believers in the date are traveling around the United States in what is being called "Project Caravan" to spread the word.

What does the Bible say?

While the Bible does predict a great earthquake will shake the Earth, a date is not specified. Revelation 6:12-14 says "I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. " (NIV)

Most Christians, though, recall another Biblical passage that refute the May 21 date. Matthew 24:36 quotes Jesus as saying "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (NIV) This statement is made after Jesus' disciples asked him specifically "what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

Preparation is key to surviving disaster

Whatever your personal beliefs regarding a scientific prediction or a religious prediction for disaster, it is a fact: Natural disasters happen daily and predicting them is not always possible. Preparation is the key to survival whether you expect disaster to strike on March 19 or May 21 or another date. For tips on disaster preparation, see the suggestions on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website at fema.gov.

Tamara L. Morris developed a special interest in weather issues and natural disasters after a tornado swept through her hometown in 1982. She is certified as a National Weather Service Skywarn Stormspotter and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) member and has served locally in this capacity after a rare derecho struck her area in 2009. She researches and writes about earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes and other natural phenomena.

Life Found in a Meteorite? Some Scientists Don't Buy It
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110311/h ... 9205746100

By MICHAEL D. LEMONICK – 2 hrs 12 mins ago

The question of where life began is one of the enduring mysteries of science. Charles Darwin himself speculated that it might have happened in "a warm little pond," while modern biologists think the superheated water around seafloor volcanic vents is a more likely spot.

But a far more exotic proposal has been floating around for years: maybe life first arose in outer space and came to earth fully formed. It's an astonishing idea, but it's not completely crazy: after all, astronomers have discovered dozens of organic molecules floating in giant interstellar clouds, and meteorites have been cracked apart to reveal amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. (See pictures of meteors that have fallen from the sky.)

It's no surprise, then, that a paper just published in the online Journal of Cosmology has suddenly grabbed the world's attention. Titled "Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites" and authored by NASA scientist Richard Hoover of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, it makes the audacious claim that a meteorite that slammed into France in the 1800s has clear evidence pointing to space-dwelling microbes. "The implications," says an online synopsis of the paper, "are that life is everywhere, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets."

Well, maybe. But before anyone gets too excited, a little history lesson is in order. Back in 1996, TIME's cover trumpeted the astonishing words "Life on Mars." A NASA scientist claimed he'd found evidence that ancient bacteria had once lived inside a Martian rock that had been picked up in Antarctica (the rock had been blasted from Mars' surface by an asteroid impact long ago and fallen to earth as a meteorite). Newspapers, magazines and TV broadcasts were all over the story, because while alien visitations are a staple of the UFO crowd, this discovery had a pedigree. Not only was the scientist on NASA's payroll, it was NASA itself that made the announcement at a major press conference. The paper, meanwhile, had been published in Science, one of the world's top scientific journals, which gave it even more apparent gravitas. (See reports of the earliest UFO sightings.)

Before long, though, the whole thing went away, as other astronomers took a good look at the evidence and pronounced it completely unconvincing.

Then there was the claim back in the 1960s by Fordham University chemist Bartholomew Nagy that he'd found evidence of life in a meteorite - the very meteorite Hoover is talking about now. That went away too. As did claims in the 1930s that scientists had not only found but also revived dormant bacteria from a meteorite. As did claims in the 1890s of meteorites with fossils inside.

All of this may be why many experts in the field of astrobiology - a perfectly legitimate area of science - paid little mind when an e-mail circulated a few days ago trumpeting the latest life-in-a-meteorite paper. "I get e-mails from them regularly, maybe once every month or two," says a senior astrophysicist at a major university. "They always sound extremely nutty ... so much so that I have never been tempted to investigate more closely." (See the science of sex in space.)

Blogger and biologist P.Z. Myers puts it a little more pithily: the journal is, he writes, "the ginned-up website of a small group of crank academics." Some of the articles that have appeared do nothing to dispel this idea include "The Origin of Eternal Life in the Multiverse" and "Sex on Mars: Pregnancy, Fetal Development, and Sex in Outer Space."

But panspermia - the notion that life wafts through interstellar space, seeding worlds as it goes, is one of the journal's mainstays. Indeed, a frequent contributor, Chandra Wickramasinghe, of Cardiff University in Wales, has been proving the existence of life in outer space for years. Along with his frequent collaborator, Fred Hoyle, Wickramasinghe has "discovered" viruses and freeze-dried bacteria floating among the stars. (Comment on this story.)

Somehow, though, these revolutionary discoveries have failed to become accepted science. One theory, advanced by some of panspermia's most avid supporters, is that the scientific establishment simply can't accept radical new ideas that challenge the conventional wisdom. They laughed at Alfred Wegener, after all, when he proposed the notion of continental drift, and at Barry Marshall when he claimed that bacteria cause ulcers.

It may ultimately turn out that they are wrong to dismiss Richard Hoover as well. But Myers, for one, doesn't think so. "This work is garbage," he writes. "I'm surprised anyone is granting it any credibility at all." As for the Journal of Cosmology, he writes, "I'm looking forward to the publication next year of the discovery of an extraterrestrial rabbit in a meteor."

In that, however, he may be disappointed. According to blogger David Dobbs, a press release has gone out announcing that the Journal of Cosmology is soon to be no more. The headline on the release doesn't exactly add to the journal's credibility: "Journal of Cosmology to Stop Publishing - Killed by Thieves and Crooks."

See TIME's list of history's greatest adventures and explorations.

See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2010.

View this article on Time.com

Most Popular on Time.com:

[Newdawnrising Profile]

NO X-FLARE: Don't panic, there was no catastrophic X20-flare today. Earlier this morning, a hiccup on our web server caused some of the values under "current conditions" to go haywire. The most noticable error was a purported "X20+" solar flare. Such flares can occur, but not today. A reboot has solved the problem and reporting is back to normal. My apologies to readers who were confused or alarmed by the mix-up. Signed, Tony Phillips, webmaster of spaceweather.com.

hmmm