Irish anti-G8 demonstrations

This video from the USA says about itself:

Camp David 2012 G8 Protesters. Ethiopian Americans from around the United States protesting today (Saturday May 19, 2012) in Thurmont, Maryland for human rights. Thurmont is located in Frederick County, Maryland and is the closest community to Camp David where the 2012 G8 Summit is being held. Critics say Meles Zenawi‘s government represses civil rights and news media. The United States is a major contributor of aid to Ethiopia.

From BreakingNews.ie in Ireland:

Protestors plan ‘alternative’ G8 in Ireland

05/04/2013 – 14:51:05

An “alternative” G8 summit is to be organised by protesters in Ireland against global austerity measures.

Trade unionists, anti-war activists, charities, anti-fracking organisations, environmentalists and pro-Palestinian lobbyists will be involved in demonstrations to be held near this summer’s conference in the North as well as in Belfast, Dublin and London, one of the organisers said.

Police in the North are mounting a massive security operation in anticipation of trouble including creating extra cells capable of holding 350 people and imposing a ring of steel around the luxury Lough Erne golf resort in Co Fermanagh where June’s meeting of world leaders is being held.

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among those expected to attend a gathering of leaders representing some of the world’s leading economies hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

People Before Profit campaigner Eamonn McCann said: “Here we have these eight people who are all in one way or another representing big power politics, they are all in one way or another involved in imposing austerity.

“They represent the 1% against the 99%.”

The PSNI is expanding custody provision at stations across the North for the summit.

Courts and prisons staff will also step up workloads in the anticipation of extra arrests. An unused 108-capacity unit at Maghaberry high security prison in Co Antrim and a former army site in Co Tyrone could house those charged.

Mr McCann accused the media of focusing on a violent minority and said past G8 demonstrators had been angered by the sight of US security forces on the streets.

“I would hope that the protests would be peaceful but you cannot rule out provocation in some form,” he said.

“The main focus of the violence in 2005 (Gleneagles) was the tactics by foreign security services. In Scotland groups of people were being confronted by American security agents who had taken over control.”

He said it was remarkable that the PSNI had been granted late-night sittings of courts to charge suspected offenders and demanded magistrates be made available on a Sunday without any opposition from local politicians.

“Where is the democratic accountability of law and order in all this?” he asked.

“Whether or not you agree that these things should be happening, they should not be happening without public debate.”

He said that besides the alternative summit several musical events were being organised to coincide with the G8 meeting.

He said plans for Co Fermanagh had not been coordinated yet but were in the process of formation by trade union organisations.

Expected participants in protests include the War on Want and Trocaire aid charities, groups concerned about fracking for gas (Fermanagh is a potential site for the mining), organisations supporting Palestinian causes and Friends of the Earth.

Issues to be highlighted include environmental protection, carbon emissions, public spending cuts and nuclear disarmament in the UK, France and Russia.

Mr McCann claimed G8 leaders did not have electoral endorsement for some of their policies.

“There is no mandate there for nuclear weapons, no mandate for the austerity measures across Europe, every public opinion poll shows that the vast majority of people are against them,” he said.

“Greece objected to them (austerity measures), Italy objected to them, the democratically elected government there was cast aside and a technocrat was installed.”

He said elected governments’ programmes were just set aside when the IMF and major financial institutions became involved in bailouts.

He added: “I believe we need Europe-wide coordinated resistance to what is happening. There is a spirit of revolt in France, a spirit of revolt in Greece and a spirit of revolt in Italy and there is a spirit of revolt on this island against what is happening. It needs to find a focus, we must all rise up together.”

Related articles

• Prison cells readied ahead of G8 summit in Co Fermanagh this summer (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
• Protesters to hold ‘alternative g8′ (morningstaronline.co.uk)
• UK under pressure to act on UK offshore havens (irishtimes.com)

Is ‘strobe light star’ twins?

This video is called Flashing Star Spied By Hubble | Time-Lapse Video.

By Clara Moskowitz in the USA:

Rare ‘strobe light star’ may actually be twins

This infrared image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows an image of protostellar object LRLL 54361. The image was released Feb. 7.

Space.com

An odd flashing star may actually be a pair of cosmic twins: two newly formed baby stars that circle each other closely and flash like a strobe light, scientists say.

Astronomers discovered the nascent star system, called LRLL 54361, with the infrared Spitzer observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope, and say the rare cosmic find could offer a chance to study star formation and early evolution. It is only the third such “strobe light” object ever seen, researchers said.

The celestial oddity is located about 950 light-years from Earth and lets out a bright pulse of light every 25.34 days. Hubble telescope scientists said the baby star object (or protostar) is the most powerful such stellar strobe found to date. But understanding what’s causing the flashing light is difficult, because the system is hidden behind opaque dust and a dense disk of material.

“This protostar has such large brightness variations with a precise period that it is very difficult to explain,” astronomer James Muzerolle of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., said in a statement. Muzerolle is the lead author of a paper detailing the finding published recently in the journal Nature.

However, Spitzer’s infrared eyes were able to peer through the dust enough to discern signs of a protostar, or a pair of protostars, no more than a few hundred thousand years old.

Related articles

• NASA Telescopes Discover Strobe-Like Flashes In A Suspected Binary Protostar (sacbee.com)
• NASA Telescopes Discover Strobe-Like Flashes in Young Stars (spacefellowship.com)
• Rare Strobe-like Starsystem Contains Baby Binary Protostars (scienceworldreport.com)
• Astronomers discover strobe-like flashes in a suspected binary protostar (nanowerk.com)
• Strobe-Like Flashes in Young Stars Discovered by NASA Telescope (scienceworldreport.com)

New earth-like planet discovery

This video is about the star HD 40307.

From EarthSky:

Nov 07, 2012

New super-Earth may be just right to support life

A new super-Earth planet that may have an Earth-like climate and be just right to support life has been discovered around a nearby star by an international team of astronomers, led by Mikko Tuomi, University of Hertfordshire, and Guillem Anglada-Escude, University of Goettingen.

The new super-Earth planet exists in the habitable zone of a nearby star and is part of a six-planet system. The system was previously thought to contain three planets in orbits too close to the star to support liquid water. By avoiding fake signals caused by stellar activity, the researchers have identified three new super-Earth planet candidates also in orbit.

Mikko Tuomi said: “We pioneered new data analysis techniques including the use of the wavelength as a filter to reduce the influence of activity on the signal from this star. This significantly increased our sensitivity and enabled us to reveal three new super-Earth planets around the star known as HD 40307, making it into a six-planet system.”

Of the new planets, the one of greatest interest is the one with the outermost orbit from the star -– with a mass at least seven times of the Earth. Its orbit around the host star is at a similar distance to Earth’s orbit around our Sun, so it receives a similar amount of energy from the star as the Earth receives from the Sun – increasing the probability of it being habitable. This is where the presence of liquid water and stable atmospheres to support life is possible and, more importantly, the planet is likely to be rotating on its own axis as it orbits around the star creating a daytime and night-time effect on the planet which would be better at creating an Earth-like environment.

Guillem Angla-Escude said: “The star HD 40307, is a perfectly quiet old dwarf star, so there is no reason why such a planet could not sustain an Earth-like climate.”

Hugh Jones, University of Hertfordshire, added: “The longer orbit of the new planet means that its climate and atmosphere may be just right to support life. Just as Goldilocks liked her porridge to be neither too hot nor too cold but just right, this planet or indeed any moons that is has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable.”

Earlier this year, the Kepler spacecraft found a planet with a similar orbit. However, Kepler 22d is located 600 light years from Earth, whereas this new super-Earth planet known as HD 40307g is much closer being located at forty-two light years from Earth.

Mikko Tuomi carried out this work as a member of the European science network RoPACS (Rocky Planets Around Cool Stars) – an initiative with a research focus on the search for planets around cool stars. RoPACS has pan-European membership and is led from the University of Hertfordshire by David Pinfield, who commented: “Discoveries like this are really exciting, and such systems will be natural targets for the next generation of large telescopes, both on the ground and in space.”

Maryland Science Center Opens New Permanent Exhibition on Life Beyond Earth: here.

Related articles

• ‘Super-Earth’ Alien Planet May Be Habitable for Life (space.com)
• ‘Super-Earth’ alien planet may support life (msnbc.msn.com)
• Super-Earth Discovered in Stars’ Habitable Zone (news.discovery.com)
• Super-Earth Planet: Potentially Habitable Alien World Explained (Infographic) (space.com)

Dinosaur footprints discovery at NASA space base

This video from the USA is called NASA Finds Dinosaur Footprint – On NASA Property.

From ScienceDaily:

Footprints of Cretaceous Dinosaur Found at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

(Aug. 21, 2012) — About 110 million light years away, the bright, barred spiral galaxy NGC 3259 was just forming stars in dark bands of dust and gas. Here on the part of the Earth where NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center would eventually be built, a plant-eating dinosaur sensed predators nearby and quickened its pace, leaving a deep imprint in the Cretaceous mud.

On Friday, Aug. 17, 2012, noted dinosaur hunter Ray Stanford shared the location of that footprint with Goddard’s facility management and the Washington Post newspaper.

“This was a large, armored dinosaur,” Stanford said. “Think of it as a four-footed tank. It was quite heavy, there’s a quite a ridge or push-up here. … Subsequently the sand was bound together by iron-oxide or hematite, so it gave us a nice preservation, almost like concrete.”

Stanford, a “proud amateur dinosaur tracker” has had several papers published, including the discovery of a new species of nodosaur from a fossilized hatchling found near the University of Maryland in College Park. He previously confirmed the authenticity of this track with David Weishampel of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, author of the book “Dinosaurs of the East Coast.”

He had material from the same Cretaceous-era sedimentary rock dated, with help from the US Geological Survey, to approximately 110- to 112-million years old, by analyzing pollen grains sealed in the stone. The Cretaceous Period ran between 145.5 and 65.5 million years ago, and was the last period of the Mesozoic Era.

Goddard Facilities Manager Alan Binstock said the agency considers the footprint and its location “sensitive but unclassified.”

The footprint is on federal land, so improperly removing it could potentially violate three laws: the Antiquities Act, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act.

NASA officials will next consult with the State of Maryland and paleontologists to form a plan for documenting and preserving the find, Binstock said.

Stanford also identified and presented several smaller footprints — three-toed, flesh-eating therapods [sic; theropods] — to Goddard officials from the same site.

He called the location of the find “poetic.”

“Space scientists may walk along here, and they’re walking exactly where this big, bungling heavy armored dinosaur walked, maybe 110 to 112-million years ago,” Stanford said.

Read the Washington Post story here.

See also here, with videos.

Feb. 5, 2013 — A grouping of 110 to 112 million-year-old dinosaur footprints pressed into mud from the Cretaceous Period have now been safely moved from their original setting on the grounds of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Until further scientific study is possible, the footprints, now wrapped in protective material, will be stored on the Goddard campus: here.

Related articles

• NASA Finds 4-Toed Footprint (foxnews.com)
• Fossil of new dinosaur-age flying reptile found (nbcnews.com)
• Chinese dinosaur age bird discovery (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)

Electricity problems in the USA

This video from the USA is called 7/3/2012 PEPCO’s FAILURE down wire fire Forest Glen, Maryland.

By James Brewer in the USA:

US death toll rises from heat wave and power outages

4 July 2012

So far, 23 deaths are attributed to the heat and related violent storms that ravaged the eastern United States on Friday. More are expected due to unrelenting heat and power outages. As of Tuesday night, 1.4 million remain without power in the seven-state area affected by the storms.

Huge trees were blown down by the up to 90-mile-an-hour winds from the derecho storms, knocking out power lines over wide areas.

The utility company for the Washington, DC area, Pepco, is the focus of widespread criticism for its failure to restore power in a timely manner. The situation is similar for customers of other utility companies in the eastern US.

Pepco claims that the sudden nature of the storms left them totally unprepared for the situation, and that the wide area affected by the storms meant that nearby crews could not be called in to assist damaged areas.

“We called five times, and they keep saying ‘Oh yeah, you’re a big priority,’” Mary Lou Kenary, DC-area resident told the Washington Post. Kenary, her husband, daughter, and severely disabled grandchild have been waiting since Saturday for Pepco to remove an electrical wire-covered telephone pole and tree from their driveway. “We called again this morning, and they said they had no record of us,” Kenary said. “We’re just so frustrated at how this has been mishandled.”

In fact, utility companies such as Pepco have been systematically cutting corners to boost profitability, with the support of both Democrats and Republicans.

The outdated method of distributing electricity through wires strung above ground makes it inevitable that storms will causes falling trees and branches to knock out power service. Utility companies in the US have universally refused to invest in a basic upgrade to their archaic infrastructure.

In addition, these private companies are all seeking ways to cut their labor costs with layoffs and takeaways from their workers. Currently, Con Ed, the power provider to New York, has recently locked out 8,500 employees for rejecting concessions.

Day to day life in urban neighborhoods has been totally disrupted. In many neighborhoods of Baltimore, residents have no running water in addition to no power. Residents across the region who have been without power have been forced to throw away the contents of their refrigerators due to the outage—a waste of much of a family’s monthly income and nutrition.

Vital infrastructure has also been disrupted. The loss of traffic signals in the DC area is causing dangerous driving conditions. Many smaller pediatric and other clinics without power have had to call on local hospitals to store their supplies of vaccines, which have to be refrigerated. For several days, 911 emergency call centers had no way of responding to those in need of help.

Municipalities have publicized lists of cooling center locations for people trying to stay cool, either for lack of air conditioning or electricity. These locations are often public libraries, but no resources have been provided to accommodate those seeking to avoid the high temperatures, either to keep them open longer hours, or open up special rooms.

Con Ed lockout puts New York in danger of power outages during heat wave: here.

Thousands of locked out Con Edison workers rally as New York City faces brownouts: here.

POWER CUTS AND A HEATWAVE IN NEW YORK: here.

Workers Protest Con Ed Lockout: “They Couldn’t Raise Rates on Customers … So They Went After Us”. John Knefel, Truthout: “As negotiations between union reps and management to settle the Con Ed lockout continue far from the public’s view, the workers are making their presence known in the street. Union workers have staged a protest outside Con Ed’s main headquarters on 4 Irving Place in New York City every day this week and will likely continue to do so until an agreement is reached”: here.

Pepco cuts exacerbate Washington, DC power outages: here.

Relentless heat that has blistered the world in recent years is so rare that it can’t be anything but man-made global warming, top Nasa scientist James Hansen said at the weekend: here.

Atlantic sturgeon restoration program

Discovery News says:

Biologists in Maryland hope an adult female Atlantic sturgeon can help replenish local populations of the ancient species. Jorge Ribas gets the tale.

Black Sea and Danube sturgeon: here.

Sturgeon reintroduction in the Dutch Rhine: here. And here. And here.

New dinosaur discovery in the USA

From Scientific Blogging in the USA:

Propanoplosaurus Marylandicus: A Win For Open (And Citizen) Science

By News Staff | September 14th 2011 10:05 AM

In 1997k Ray Stanford, a citizen scientist dinosaur tracker who often spent time looking for fossils close to his Maryland home, was searching a creek bed after an extensive flood and discovered a fossil which he identified as a nodosaur.

Nodosaurs have been found in diverse locations worldwide, but they’ve rarely been found in the United States. The area had originally been a flood plain, where the dinosaur originally drowned and it was tiny – only 13 cm long, just shorter than the length of a dollar bill. Adult nodosaurs are estimated to have been 20 to 30 feet long.

Stanford called up David Weishampel, Ph.D., a professor of anatomy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who works as a paleontologist and expert in dinosaur systematics. Weishampel confirmed it was a nodosaur and research since then reveals it is the youngest nodosaur ever discovered, and a new genus and species, Propanoplosaurus marylandicus, that lived approximately 110 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous Era.

Weishampel and colleagues were able to confirm the fossil’s identity as a nodosaur by identifying a distinctive pattern of bumps and grooves on the skull. They then did a computer analysis of the skull shape, comparing its proportions to those of ten skulls from different species of ankylosaurs, the group that contains nodosaurs. They found that this dinosaur was closely related to some of the nodosaur species, although it had a shorter snout overall than the others. Comparative measurements enabled them to designate the new species as Propanoplosaurus marylandicus. In addition to being the youngest nodosaur ever found, it is the first hatchling of any dinosaur species ever recovered in the eastern United States, says Weishampel. …

Stanford has donated Propanoplosaurus marylandicus to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, where it is now on display to the public and also available for research. The findings are published in the Journal of Paleontology.

See also here.

The first T. Rex Skeleton discovered over a century ago is complete at last: here.

Samples of amber in western Canada containing feathers from dinosaurs and birds have yielded the most complete story of feather evolution ever seen: here.

From Biology News Net:

A University of Alberta-led research team has taken a rare look inside the skull of a dinosaur and come away with unprecedented details on the brain and nasal passages of the 72 million year old animal.

Lead researcher Tetsuto Miyashita, a U of A master’s student in paleontology, examined the armoured skull of a Euoplocephalus, a six-metre long plant eater. The skull, which had been sitting in the U of A’s paleontology collection, was broken, allowing Miyashita and his colleagues a unique view of the interior nasal cavities and details of blood vessels.

The researchers obtained CT scans from undamaged Euoplocephalus skulls to reconstruct the twisted, looping nasal passages and brain chamber. The team concluded Euoplocephalus had good senses of smell and hearing.

The researchers say the entire brain of a Euoplocephalus would fit inside a coffee mug, but the size was not small for a dinosaur. The dinosaur may have generated sound through its looping nasal passages, enabling it to communicate with other Euoplocephalus. The reconstructed inner ear was tuned for this “nasal roar” because the length of the ear indicates that the dinosaur could pick up low-frequency sounds.

Life on Earth 240 million years ago flourished in the seas, on land, and in intricate underground burrows: here.