Yoga reduces cytokine levels known to promote inflammation, study shows

Regularly practicing yoga exercises may lower a number of compounds in the blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress, a new study has shown. The study showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Arctic could face warmer and ice-free conditions

There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future. Scientists documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period (3.3 to 3 million years ago). This period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Surplus of serotonin receptors may explain failure of antidepressants in some patients

An excess of one type of serotonin receptor in the center of the brain may explain why antidepressants fail to relieve symptoms of depression for 50 percent of patients, a new study shows. The study is the first to find a causal link between receptor number and antidepressant treatment and may lead to more personalized treatment.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Second smallest exoplanet spotted: Discovery highlights new potential for eventually finding Earth-mass planets

Astronomers using the highly sensitive 10-meter Keck I telescope atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea have detected an extrasolar planet with a mass just four times that of Earth. The planet, which orbits its parent star HD156668 about once every four days, is the second-smallest world among the more than 400 exoplanets (planets located outside our solar system) that have been found to date.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

U.S. adult obesity still high, but recent data suggest rates may have stabilized

The prevalence of adults in the US who are obese is still high, with about one-third of adults obese in 2007-2008, although new data suggest that the rate of increase for obesity in the US in recent decades may be slowing, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Toward a less expensive version of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu

Scientists have developed an alternative method for producing the active ingredient in Tamiflu, the mainstay for fighting H1N1 and other forms of influenza. The new process could expand availability of the drug by reducing its cost, which now retails for as about $8 per dose.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Some antiviral drugs could make diseases worse, new study suggests

New research raises concerns about an emerging strategy for stopping viral infections. According to the study, medications that cause viruses to die off by forcing their nucleic acid to mutate rapidly might actually, in some instances, cause them to emerge from the process even more virulent than before drug treatment.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm

From the ancient Amazonian Indians: 'Biochar' as a modern weapon against global warming

Scientists are reporting that "biochar" -- a material that the Amazonian Indians used to enhance soil fertility centuries ago -- has potential in the modern world to help slow global climate change. Mass production of biochar could capture and sock away carbon that otherwise would wind up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm

Drug shows promise as new treatment for gut tumor

Bortezomib, a drug that already is an approved therapy for some cancers, also might be an effective secondary treatment for a rare tumor of the gastrointestinal tract, say researchers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm

Environment plays key role in developing reading skills, study finds

While genetics play a key role in children's initial reading skills, a new study of twins is the first to demonstrate that environment plays an important role in reading growth over time. The results give further evidence that children can make gains in reading during their early school years, above and beyond the important genetic factors that influence differences in reading.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - Precipitation in the West was expected to taper off on Thursday as disturbances from the Pacific continued to dissipate.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 3:32 am

Pollution imperils polar bears

Polar bears in the Arctic are suffering a range of potentially fatal ill-effects caused by man-made pollution, a major review reveals.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Jan 2010 | 3:17 am

Prehistoric building found in modern Israeli city (AP)

AP - When Tel Aviv marked its centennial last year, part of the festivities honoring 100 years since the founding of the first modern Hebrew city included restoration of its oldest buildings.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2010 | 1:27 am

Earth Dodges An Interplanetary Bullet

As dutifully reported by my Discovery News colleague Ian O’Neill, a mysterious space visitor streaked past Earth at 21,000 mph yesterday. (In fact the object was moving slightly slower than the returning Apollo capsules did from the manned moon missions.) ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Jan 2010 | 12:32 am

Study: 1 in 4 female teens involved in violence (AP)

AP - About one in four female teens is involved in some sort of violent behavior at school or at work, according to a government report.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 10:24 pm

Strides Made in Lung Cancer Treatment (HealthDay)

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Jan. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Advances in genetics and biomarker identification and testing are finally bearing fruit in the battle against lung cancer, a new set of studies suggests.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 9:48 pm

No Sign of Superbugs in Isolated Polar Bears (HealthDay)

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Jan. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Scant evidence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs has been found in the droppings of Arctic polar bears that are isolated from humans, potentially suggesting that humans are responsible for the spread of such germs in the animal kingdom at large.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 9:48 pm

Hydro scheme awarded major prize

A scheme to generate power in the Brecon Beacons is one of three winners of a £1m prize for saving carbon emissions.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Jan 2010 | 7:41 pm

Wednesday’s Near-Earth Asteroid Caught on Film

A team of astronomers from Italy captured images of the asteroid that passed by Earth Wednesday at a distance one-third that between the Earth and the Moon.

The rock, between 30 and 50 feet across, was not in danger of striking the planet and probably would have burned up in the atmosphere before hitting Earth’s surface, if it had headed our way. The asteroid, dubbed 2010 AL30 was first spotted and announced Monday. It is the closest encounter Earth will have with any known object until 2024.

In 2029 an asteroid known as Apophis will come three times closer than Wednesday’s asteroid did. Though the chances it will hit Earth are just one in 250,000, it is the subject of a lot of discussion, and Russia has announced it is making plans to deflect it.

Images: E. Guido and G. Sostero

See Also:

• Earth to Get Close Shave Wednesday From Newly Discovered Asteroid
• Video: The Asteroid That Will Almost Hit Earth
• To Deflect an Asteroid, Try a Lasso, Not a Nuke
• Saving Earth From an Asteroid Will Take Diplomats, Not Heroes
• The Real Twitpocalypse: Asteroid Alerts Come to Twitter
• How to Defend Earth Against an Asteroid Strike
• First-Ever Asteroid Tracked From Space to Earth

Follow us on Twitter @betsymason and @wiredscience, and on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:27 pm

Why Is Haiti So Poor?

A market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, appears in the above photo, which was taken between 1909 and 1920. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, which makes the devastation caused by yesterday’s earthquake that much harder on an already ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:08 pm

UN should be sidelined in future climate talks, says Obama official

America sees a diminished role for the United Nations in trying to stop global warming after the "chaotic" Copenhagen climate change summit, an Obama administration official said today.

Jonathan Pershing, who helped lead talks at Copenhagen, instead sketched out a future path for negotiations dominated by the world's largest polluters such as China, the US, India, Brazil and South Africa, who signed up to a deal in the final hours of the summit. That would represent a realignment of the way the international community has dealt with climate change over the last two decades.

"It is impossible to imagine a global agreement in place that doesn't essentially have a global buy-in. There aren't other institutions beside the UN that have that," Pershing said. "But it is also impossible to imagine a negotiation of enormous complexity where you have a table of 192 countries involved in all the detail."

Pershing said the flaws in the UN process, which demands consensus among the international community, were exposed at Copenhagen. "The meeting itself was at best chaotic," he said, in a talk at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "We met mostly overnight. It seemed like we didn't sleep for two weeks. It seemed a funny way to do things, and it showed."

The lack of confidence in the UN extends to the $30bn (£18.5bn) global fund, which will be mobilised over the next three years to help poor countries adapt to climate change.

"The UN didn't manage the conference that well," Pershing said. "I am not sure that any of us are particularly confident that the UN managing the near-term financing is the right way to go."

Pershing did not exclude the UN from future negotiations. But he repeatedly credited the group of leading economies headed by America for moving forward on the talks, including on finance and developing green technology. He suggested the larger forum offered by the UN was instead important for countries such as Cuba or the small islands which risk annihilation by climate change to air their grievances.

"We are going to have a very very difficult time moving forward and it will be a combination of small and larger processes," he said.

The first test of the accord agreed by America, China, India, South Africa and Brazil arrives on 31 January, the deadline for countries to commit officially to actions to halt global warming. Here, too, Pershing indicated the focus would be narrower in scope than the UN's all-inclusive approach. "We expect there will be significant actions recorded by major countries," he said. "We are not really worried what Chad does. We are not really worried about what Haiti says it is going to do about greenhouse gas emissions. We just hope they recover from the earthquake."

Key groups of developing countries are to meet this month to try to explore ways to get to agree a binding agreement.

As the dust settles on the stormy Danish meeting, environment ministers from the so-called Basic countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – will meet on 24 January in New Delhi. No formal agenda has been set, but observers expect the emerging geopolitical alliance between the four large developing countries who brokered the final "deal" with the US in Denmark will define a common position on emission reductions and climate aid money, and seek ways to convince other countries to sign up to the Copenhagen accord that emerged last month.

Fewer than 30 countries out of the 192 who are signed up to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which organised Copenhagen, have indicated that they will sign. Many are known to be deeply unhappy with the $100bn pledged for climate aid and the decision not to make deeper cuts in emissions.

Under UN laws, consensus is required. There is confusion over the legal standing of the agreement reached in Copenhagen and many countries may not be in a position to sign up by 31 January because they have yet to consult their parliaments.

Meanwhile, Bolivia, one of a handful of poor countries which openly opposed the deal in Copenhagen, has invited countries and non-governmental groups which want a much stronger climate deal to the World Conference of the People on Climate Change.

Pershing said that he had told some of those leaders that there was no prospect of reaching a stronger deal that would limit warming to 1.5 degrees.

The conference, to be held in Cochabamba in Bolivia from 20-22 April, is expected to attract heads of state from the loose alliance of socialist "Alba" countries, including Venezuela and Cuba. Alba, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America countries, was set up to provide an alternative to the US-led free trade area of the Americas.

Bolivia this week urged leaders of the world's indigenous ethnic groups and scientists to come. "The invitation is to heads of state but chiefly to civil society. We think that social movements and non government groups, people not at decision level, have an important role in climate talks," said Maria Souviron, the Bolivian ambassador in London.

The meeting, which is intended to cement ties between the seven Alba countries, is also expected to pursue the idea of an international court for environmental crimes, as well as the radical idea of "mother earth rights". This would give all entities, from man to endangered animal species, an equal right to life.

"Our objective is to save humanity and not just half of humanity," said Morales in a speech at Copenhagen. "We are here to save mother earth. Our objective is to reduce climate change to [under] 1C. [Above this] many islands will disappear and Africa will suffer a holocaust. The real cause of climate change is the capitalist system. If we want to save the earth then we must end that economic model."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:07 pm

Half of Americans Bring Work Home (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Nearly half of U.S. adults bring their work home and many say work interferes with family life, a new survey finds.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:01 pm

Brace for More Strong Quakes in Haiti Region

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck just outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti last night could be just the beginning. According to geologists monitoring the region, the quake could have primed faults crisscrossing the island of Hispaniola to unleash additional destructive temblors. Situated ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 5:08 pm

Futurists predict fewer butchers and more space pilots

Scientific advances and onset of climate change will radically change careers, says report commissioned by government

Forget the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker: in 20 years some of the most popular jobs could include vertical farmer, space pilot and body part maker, according to a government commissioned report.

Shape of Jobs to Come predicts advances in science and technology, coupled with the expected onset of climate change, could make for career paths that are virtually unrecognisable today.

The research company Fast Future was asked by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to compile a list of jobs as part of the government's Science: [So what? So everything] campaign, launched last year to encourage a better understanding of science.

The company asked a network of "futurists and future thinkers" to consider likely science and technology developments before suggesting specific jobs. The result was a list of 110 roles, whittled down to 20 for the study.

Traditional roles within medicine and farming are expected to rely much more heavily on the use of computers and robots, while careers in social work are predicted to expand, to deal with the continuing increase in popularity of social networking sites.

Some of the most exciting developments are expected to come in medicine, where the study predicts the creation of new limbs and organs will become a reality, meaning body part makers will be in demand. Nano-medics will also be an aspirational career, with possible advances leading to the development of a nano boat, which would navigate through the body destroying cancerous cells.

Rohit Palwar, chief executive of Fast Future, predicted the generation of extra limbs would be invaluable to the military, but could see more use in sport. "If you're spending £80m on a footballer and for £2m you can have a couple of spare legs, then you're going to do it," he said. "The level of medicine will probably tell you very accurately when their legs will fail, or what kind of strains they're likely to suffer from. So you might say as a preventative measure, rather than three months' recovery let's have an artificial limb ready so we can replace their leg and have them back playing again within a few days or weeks."

The team considered factors as diverse as the rise of space tourism, the risk of a deadly virus and the onset of climate change in compiling the list – three events which could lead to people working as space pilots or tour guides, quarantine enforcers and climate change reversal specialists. Palwar said improvements in science could see new jobs created within existing fields, with insurance policies developed to cover the cost of a new leg, while cosmetic surgery could go beyond merely improving parts of a person's body to replacing sections of it.

However, the career for life , would truly become a thing of the past, said the study. "Students coming out of university now could easily have eight to 10 jobs in their lifetime, across five different careers," he said. "Technology is advancing so fast and industries are changing so fast that what looks like a solid job today disappears tomorrow."

Gordon Brown said he hoped it would inspire young people to gain skills and training for these new careers. "A priority for this government is to prepare Britain for the economy of the future and to make sure our young people can seize the opportunities that innovations in science and technology will bring."

Palwar said schools should concentrate on scientific subjects and improving all-round skills to equip children. "If I was a parent today the key thing I would want to make sure is that my kids were well versed in science and technology and were learning things like problem solving and how to make complex decisions."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 13 Jan 2010 | 5:05 pm

Polar bear poo helps in superbug hunt

LONDON (Reuters) - Polar bear droppings are helping scientists shed light on the spread of deadly antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 5:04 pm

Supernova Winds Shape Galaxies

The explosions of massive stars may be responsible for the formation of galaxies.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 4:09 pm

Kentucky Senate panel passes nuclear power bill (AP)

AP - Lawmakers in Kentucky will again consider lifting a moratorium on construction of nuclear power plants in Kentucky.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

Colo. federal lab gets funds for biofuels work (AP)

AP - A consortium led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will receive up to nearly $34 million in federal stimulus funds to work on ways to make fuel from plant materials that can be used in existing pipelines and refineries.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:55 pm

Small Cars Are Big at Detroit Auto Show

Small, hybrid and electric cars took center stage at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:33 pm

Solar Eclipse to Grace Africa and Asia Friday (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - An annular eclipse of the sun will take place on Friday Jan. 15. The solar eclipse path begins in central Africa, crosses the Indian Ocean to touch the southern tip on India, and then moves on to southeast Asia, ending in southeastern China.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:31 pm

Creating Hospitals From Thin Air

After a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the capital of Haiti yesterday, I watched the aftermath unfold in the news with horror. Yet something mentioned in passing during a Doctors Without Borders press conference gave me hope for the survivors. "We're ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:23 pm

Supernova Wind Solves Galaxy Formation Mystery

After years of struggling to understand how to properly assemble a galaxy, astronomers have discovered that the answer is blowin’ in the wind. The supernova wind, that is.

New computer simulations show that winds generated by supernovas, which are the explosions of massive stars, can push stars out from the center of a dwarf galaxy. This simulation of supernova winds redistributes both ordinary matter and invisible dark matter in a way that almost perfectly matches observations of the way matter is distributed in actual dwarf galaxies. Fabio Governato of the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues describe their simulations in the Jan. 14 Nature.

Previous attempts to model galaxy formation based on the highly successful theory of cold dark matter — which states that invisible material must account for 85 percent of the mass of the universe — have done “an awesome job” of explaining such global properties as where, when and how many galaxies should form, notes Governato. But the models have failed to reproduce some of the key features of individual galaxies.

In particular, those simulations have produced galaxies whose centers are stuffed with too much dark matter and that are surrounded by a spherical distribution of stars that actual dwarf galaxies don’t possess. Dwarf galaxies, which are low-mass bodies with relatively uniform distributions of stars, are the most common type of galaxy in the neighborhood of the Milky Way.

Most of these earlier models included either a simplistic description of star formation or neglected star formation altogether. “Our simulations achieve the necessary resolution to follow the formation of individual star forming regions — dense clouds of gas containing the equivalent of 100,000 suns,” says Governato. Star formation is concentrated in the center of a galaxy, and because massive stars live for only a short time, they go supernova in the same region where they were born. As a result, supernova winds are also concentrated in galaxy centers.

Governato’s team showed that the supernova winds are intense enough to push both stars and star-forming clouds out of a dwarf galaxy’s core. Dark matter responds to gravity but is impervious to the winds. As the stars exit the core, the dark matter there feels a smaller gravitational tug and expands outward.

In one fell swoop, the model’s successful simulation of supernova winds not only reduces the density of the dark matter at the core but also does away with the spherical distribution of stars around the core, matching the properties of actual dwarf galaxies, Governato says.

Other studies have shown that supernova winds influenced the assembly of faraway dwarf galaxies that hark from the early universe, which had a chemical composition much simpler than today’s, notes Till Sawala of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany. But the new simulations are the first to successfully apply supernova winds to the formation of nearby dwarfs, Sawala adds.

Successful simulations of supernova winds can help in understanding star formation because supernovas explode close to where massive stars are born. At the same time, Simon White, director of the institute, notes that it’s unclear exactly how the particular star-forming recipe used by Governato and his colleagues differs from those of other teams and why it’s achieved such a good match with observations.

In another study, which is in press for the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Sawala, White and their colleagues examine the effect of supernova winds in dwarf galaxies that are much smaller than those modeled by Governato and his colleagues. The researchers show that supernova winds in those “ultra-dwarf” galaxies hamper star formation so much that the tiny galaxies are barely visible. The finding could explain another long-standing discrepancy: Dark matter theory predicts a much higher abundance of tiny satellite galaxies around the Milky Way than has been observed. Perhaps the galaxies are really there but have too few stars to be detected.

Images: Governato et al./Nature 2010

See Also:

• Multi-Galaxy Collision Caught in Action
• Best View Ever of a Galaxy Near You
• Farthest Galaxy Cluster Ever Detected
• Baby Neutron Star Found Inside Supernova Remnant
• New Supernova Image Reveals Third Dimension
• Video: New 3-D Fly-Through of Supernova Remnant
• Ancient Supernova Explosion Glimpsed Anew

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:52 pm

Study in mice shows why antidepressants often fail

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Antidepressants fail to help about half of the people who take them, and a study in mice may help explain why.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:46 pm

Men more evolved? Y chromosome study stirs debate (AP)

AP - Women may think of men as primitive, but new research indicates that the Y chromosome — the thing that makes a man male — is evolving far faster than the rest of the human genetic code.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:28 pm

Are Men More Evolved Than Women?

Men might not be so primitive after all.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:10 pm

Disease epidemic killing only US bats

European bats seemingly unaffected by fungal infection.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pm

Supernova Searcher Has Hands-on Universe

Astrophysicist discusses love of supernovas, what brought him to science and what he hopes to teach others.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:10 pm

'Asteroid' 2010 AL30 Might Be Venus Express Rocket

Artist impression of the Venus Express spacecraft separating from the Soyuz Fregat upper stage rocket after launch (ESA) The cosmos threw a curve ball at us, but a near-Earth object (NEO) called 2010 AL30 missed by over 80,000 miles. Although ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:09 pm

News briefing: 14 January 2010

The week in science
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pm

Lost Sleep Can't Be Made Up, Study Suggests

Chronic sleep loss, or long periods without enough sleep, cause a sleep debt that can't be recovered.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:09 pm

Nonprofit, company team up for 'artificial pancreas'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Diabetes advocates and a company that makes insulin pumps announced plans on Wednesday to team up to make a so-called artificial pancreas -- a system of pumps and monitors to manage type-1 diabetes.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 11:35 am

First Direct Measurement of an Exoplanet’s Light Spectrum

As astronomers begin detecting planets that are more and more like Earth, their task will be to determine if the planets are capable of supporting life. Now, the first direct observation of the light spectrum emitted by an exoplanet shows how they might do this.

Using the Very Large Telescope in the Chilean desert, astronomers were able to see the infrared spectrum of the exoplanet HR 8799c, 129 light-years away from Earth. Though this planet is a gaseous planet larger than Jupiter and not habitable, scientists could use the same technique to find the telltale atmospheric signals of gases like water vapor and nitrogen on Earth-like planets by measuring variations in the color of the planet’s light.

“The spectrum of a planet is like a fingerprint. It provides key information about the chemical elements in the planet’s atmosphere,” astronomer Markus Janson of the University of Toronto, who led the work, said in a press release. “With this information, we can better understand how the planet formed and, in the future, we might even be able to find telltale signs of the presence of life.”

At the same time, the difficulty of observing a planet much larger, brighter and much farther away from its star than any Earth-like planet shows just how far we have to go before we’ll be able to detect if there are smaller, life-ready planets closer to their stars.

“It’s just that this is hundreds of times easier because the planet is at a temperature of 1,000 degrees [Celsius, about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit], so it’s radiating like crazy in the infrared,” said Greg Laughlin, an exoplanet astronomer at University of California, Santa Cruz, who was not involved with the research. “It’s 38 times farther from its parent star than the Earth is from the sun.”

The infrared light emitted by the planet is particularly strong at a wavelength of about four microns. That’s a part of the spectrum where its star is not as bright, providing a sweet spot for planetary observations.

Even though this situation is especially good for using the light-detection method, the new study can be seen as a proof-of-concept for the technique of screening out starlight to see a planet’s comparatively meager radiations.

“Here they are able to use adaptive optics get rid of the starlight and get the planetary light directly,” Laughlin said, calling it an “encouraging milestone.”

The planet itself is an interesting object, unlike anything in our solar system. It is glowing from the heat of its creation, not just by reflection of its star. At 10 times the mass of Jupiter, it nearly reached the threshold to become a brown dwarf star. Instead, it’s a smoldering planet, perfectly suited for exoplanetary observation.

The work, which will be published in Astrophysical Journal, stretches our current telescopes and data processing to the limit.

“The Very Large Telescope is one of the premier telescopes in the world, absolutely awesome equipment, and it is able to barely nose in and get true spectra of exoplanets in this very fortunate situation,” Laughlin said.

Other techniques have been used to peer into the atmospheres of some other exoplanets. In those cases, astronomers look at the light coming from a star both during and after a planet crosses its face. By taking the difference between the two, they can determine some things about the composition of the planet’s atmosphere by how the light changes when passing through it.

The exciting thing about exoplanetary research right now is that there is a profusion of techniques and ideas about how to get from our current observations to the detection and study of an Earth-like planet.

“Even though it is a gigantic leap, it is something that is a matter of technology,” Laughlin affirmed. “The planets are there, the physics is there, the roadmap is there. We just need to improve our technology.”

Images: ESO/M. Janson

See Also:

• New Exoplanet Hunter Makes First 5 Discoveries
• Most Earth-Like Extrasolar Planet Found Right Next Door
• Kepler Shows Exoplanet Is Unlike Anything in Our Solar System
• Smallest Exoplanet Is Most Earth-like Yet
• Top 5 Most Extreme Exoplanets
• Beautiful New Nebulae Images from the Very Large Telescope
• The Design of Extremely Large Telescopes

Citation: “Spatially resolved spectroscopy of the exoplanet HR 8799 c”, by M. Janson et al. in Astrophysical Journal.

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Google Reader feed, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 13 Jan 2010 | 11:27 am

Two new journals copy the old

Volunteer with publisher says duplication was a technical 'mistake'.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 13 Jan 2010 | 11:12 am

The galaxy waltz: Astronomers simulate dwarf galaxy formation

A long-standing problem in astronomy – how to fit dwarf galaxies into the leading galaxy formation model – may have been resolved with the help of exploding stars

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 13 Jan 2010 | 11:00 am

Haiti Earthquake Science: What Caused the Disaster

Haiti earthquake caused by sliding of Earth's plates.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 10:47 am

Scientists link plastics chemical to health risks

LONDON (Reuters) - Exposure to a chemical found in plastic containers is linked to heart disease, scientists said on Wednesday, confirming earlier findings and adding to pressure to ban its use in bottles and food packaging.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 10:30 am

Light shed on fish gill mystery

Fish developed gills to "decontaminate" their bodies, rather than to breathe, new research suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Jan 2010 | 10:12 am

The Devastating Haiti Earthquake: Questions and Answers

How the Haiti earthquake happened, why it was so deadly, and what may happen next.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 9:22 am

"Dinosaur-Sized Shark" Kills Tourist

A tourist enjoying a swim yesterday off of Fish Hoek beach in Cape Town, South Africa, was suddenly pulled under the surf and dragged out to sea by what onlookers have called a "dinosaur-sized shark," according to several media reports. ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 9:01 am

Haiti Earthquake News Updates

Latest news and other information about the devastating earthquake in Haiti
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 8:21 am

Half of Americans Bring Work Home

Nearly half of U.S. workers bring their work home and many say work interferes with family life, a new survey finds.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 8:04 am

The Story Behind Earth's Coldest Temperature Ever

Record coldest temperature on Earth caused by unusual conditions in Antarctica.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 7:45 am

The Worst Natural Disasters Ever

The worst disasters in history.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 7:43 am

Mozart Effect Helps Premature Babies Get Stronger

Playing Mozart music to premature babies seems to help them gain weight faster and become stronger, new research found.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 7:18 am

Distant Planet's 'Fingerprint' Detected

The first direct capture of a spectrum of light from a planet outside the solar system has been obtained, in what is a landmark discovery in the search for extra-terrestrial life.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 13 Jan 2010 | 7:00 am

Astronauts' urine clogs space station water recycler

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA is finding it is not just mechanical glitches that make the International Space Station a tough place to operate.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:21 am

Les Iversen appointed chairman of drugs advisory group

Retired pharmacology professor Les Iversen succeeds David Nutt, who was sacked for criticising government policy

A retired Oxford pharmacology professor, Les Iversen, has been appointed interim chairman of the government's advisory committee on the misuse of drugs.

The appointment for a period of 12 months follows the sacking of the previous chairman, Professor David Nutt, for "crossing a line" by repeatedly criticising the government's decision to toughen the laws on cannabis, which he argued was less harmful than alcohol or nicotine.

Iversen, who is perhaps a more measured figure than Nutt, has been chairing the council's technical committee, which produced controversial reports on ecstasy and cannabis advising against reclassification.

He is an authority on the actions of drugs on the brain and has published research showing there is little evidence for a causal link between chronic cannabis use and psychiatric illness. He is known to be open-minded to concerns about the long-term effects of the more potent strains of skunk cannabis.

Iversen was a member of the Royal College of Physicians inquiry into the medical uses of cannabis and is the author of two books on drugs, Science of Marijuana and Speed, Ecstasy and Ritalin: the science of amphetamines.

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, said he was pleased to appoint Iversen. "The council's work continues, including a forthcoming assessment on the harms of the so-called 'legal high' mephedrone, following on from our control of GBL, BZP and others late last year."

Iversen said he was honoured to take up the position. "I look forward to ensuring the ACMD provides government with continued expert advice on drug issues in the UK."

He is said to have impressed committee members with his chairmanship of the difficult eight-hour meeting that took place in the aftermath of Nutt's dismissal.

One effect of the row over the sacking is that the home secretary is now obliged to meet the council formally once a year and its chairman more regularly. Johnson has also agreed that in future the committee's reports will not be dismissed out of hand but given proper consideration.

The advisers are due to set up a sub-group to look in detail at mephedrone, a legal drug sometimes called Bubbles, which imitates the effects of amphetamines. It is already illegal to sell it marked for human consumption, but is marketed instead as plant food.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 13 Jan 2010 | 4:56 am

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