Futurity.org » Jonathan Sherwood-Rochester

Sun pummeled Earth’s wimpy magnetic field

Jonathan Sherwood-Rochester — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:09:14 +0000

Lead researcher John Tarduno says that in addition to the smaller magnetopause allowing the solar wind to strip away more water vapor from the early Earth, the skies might have been filled with more polar aurora. “On a normal night 3.5 billion years ago you’d probably see the aurora as far south as New York,” says Tarduno. Above, an artist’s interpretation of Earth aurora. (Credit: U. Rochester)

U. ROCHESTER (US)—The Earth’s magnetic field 3.5 billion years ago was only half as strong as it is today, new research shows. The weakness—coupled with a strong solar wind—likely allowed particles from the young Sun to strip water from early Earth’s atmosphere.

The findings, presented in the journal Science, suggest that the magnetopause—the boundary where the Earth’s magnetic field successfully deflects the Sun’s incoming solar wind—was only half the distance from Earth it is today.

Genomes of ‘smart bomb’ wasps sequenced

Jonathan Sherwood-Rochester — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:28:13 +0000

Above, the Nasonia female. Below, Chris Desjarding and Jack Werren compare parasitic wasps (tiny insects in upper tube) to their hosts flies ( in the lower tube). Werren helped led a team that has sequenced the genomes of three relatively unknown parasitic wasp species—all members of the wasp genus Nasonia.

U. ROCHESTER—By sequencing the genomes of three wasp species that kill pest insects, a team of scientists is hopeful they will discover features that could be useful to pest control and medicine—that will enhance our understanding of genetics and evolution.

The study appears in today’s issue of Science.

Star found hiding among Big Dipper friends

Jonathan Sherwood-Rochester — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:54:13 +0000

Scientists recently discovered that two binary stars in the Big Dipper, Alcor and Mizar, are actually a group of sextuplets. “Finding that Alcor had a stellar companion was a bit of serendipity,” says Eric Mamajek, leader of the team that found the star. Above, the first image of Alcor (blotted out) and new Alcor B. (Credit: University of Rochester)

U. ROCHESTER (US)—In ancient times, people with exceptional vision discovered that one of the brightest stars in the Big Dipper was, in fact, two stars so close together that most people cannot distinguish them. Now scientists have discovered that the twins are actually sextuplets.

The two stars, Alcor and Mizar, were the first binary stars—a pair of stars that orbit each other—ever known.

Laser’s stellar jet replicates star behavior

Jonathan Sherwood-Rochester — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:44:25 +0000

Image of the stellar jet of HH 110, which is dramatically similar to the simulations created in a lab using one of the world’s most powerful lasers. “The Omega laser let us create a tiny artificial jet and blast it into a foam cloud to see what happens. The results gave us new insights into what happens in nature on scales a trillion trillion times larger,” says Adam Frank. (Credit: NASA)

U. ROCHESTER (US)—A multi-trillion-watt laser has simulated a stellar jet—an outpouring of matter from a fledgling star—with unprecedented realism.

The achievement, detailed in the current issue of the Astrophysical Journal, is the latest in a series of experiments at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics designed to recreate astronomical events in a laboratory.

Seafloor dynamics at work splitting continent

Jonathan Sherwood-Rochester — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:12:46 +0000

Reconstruction of events showed that the rift did not open in a series of small earthquakes over an extended period of time, but tore open along its entire 35-mile length in just days. A volcano called Dabbahu at the northern end of the rift erupted first, then magma pushed up through the middle of the rift area and began “unzipping” the rift in both directions, says Cindy Ebinger.

U. ROCHESTER (US)—In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial.

Now, scientists from several countries have confirmed that the volcanic processes at work beneath the Ethiopian rift are nearly identical to those at the bottom of the world’s oceans, and the rift is indeed likely the beginning of a new sea.

Gene ‘cancer-proofs’ rodent’s cells

Jonathan Sherwood-Rochester — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:52:01 +0000

“We think we’ve found the reason these mole rats don’t get cancer, and it’s a bit of a surprise,” says Vera Gorbunova.

U. ROCHESTER (US)—Despite a 30-year lifespan that gives ample time for cells to grow cancerous, a small rodent species called a naked mole rat has never been found with tumors of any kind—and now biologists think they know why.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the mole rat’s cells express a gene called p16 that makes the cells “claustrophobic,” stopping the cells’ proliferation when too many of them crowd together, cutting off runaway growth before it can start.