Life is...unpredictable!

 

Eva Ekvall, the former Miss Venezuela who finished 1st in the Miss Universe pageant in 2001,has died of breast cancer aged 28.  
 
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Aged 17, Ekvall was crowned Miss Venezuela of 2000, and the next year was 1st runner-up in the Miss Universe Pageant.Her name was also listed as one! of the most beautiful & most sexiest women in earth.As a Buddhist,she was the first non-Christian to have won the title of Miss Venezuela.
 

 

  
Ekvall was married to the radio producer John Fabio Bermudez and the couple had a 2-year-old daughter.In February 2010, just months after giving birth to her child, Ekvall was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, and underwent eight months of treatment that included chemothera! py, radiotherapy and a double radical mastectomy.

Last year! , she told newspaper El Nacional of her need to send out a message abo ut cancer prevention. And the model explained, "I hate to see photos in which I come out ugly.But you know what? Nobody ever said cancer is pretty or that I should look like Miss Venezuela when I have cancer". 

  
She chronicled this experience in a book of photographs, Fuera de Foco (Out of Focus), released on December 2010. She went on to become an advocate for SenosAyuda, a cancer awareness group.
 

Pics of her last days... 
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In a heart-breaking Twitter post over the weekend, Eva's husband posted a photo showing a close-up of his hand holding hers at her last moment, with the caption, "Always together ... I love you wife".

  
Her family has confirmed the model passed away at a hospital in Houston on Saturday (December 17, 2011), according to the Huffington Post.
  
  
Everything in life is temporary, because everything changes... 
That's why it takes great courage to love, knowing it might end anytime but having the faith it will last forever... 
  
life is like  morning dew drop in end of  grass ,for you and me every body have to face this noble truth.

"Get It Done": Urging Climate Justice, Youth Delegate Anjali Appadurai M...

A number of protests are being held today at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban to protest the failure of world leaders to agree to immediately agree to a deal of binding emissions cuts. Anjali Appadurai, a student at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, addressed the conference on behalf of youth delegates. Just after her speech, she led a mic-check from the stage -- a move inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests. "It always seems impossible until it's done. So, distinguished delegates and governments around the world, governments of the developed world: Deep cuts now. Get it done," Appadurai says.

To watch the complete daily, independent news hour, read the transcript, download the podcast, and for more reports from the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Durban, visithttp://www.democracynow.org/tags/durban_climate_summit_2011

I want to be... an entrepreneur

Youth in Rwanda share their career goals and aspirations.

What do More and Better Jobs Mean to You?

SUBMITTED BY JOE QIAN 

Here's what young people from across South Asia said more and better jobs meant to them...

...What does it mean to you?

Sustaining the future: Addressing HIV & AIDS and gender issues in agricu...

This video gives an overview of FAO's work in Malawi in mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS on rural communities and the agricultural sector.

Closing the gap between men and women in agriculture

The world cannot eliminate hunger without closing the gap between men and women in agriculture. With equal access to productive resources and services, such as land, water and credit, women farmers can produce 20 to 30 percent more food, enough to lift 150 million people out of hunger. www.fao.org/sofa/gender
(c) FAO www.fao.org

THINGS TO DISCUSS WITH YOUR EMPLOYER

I once worked on a team that helped produce a nightly television news show. The format didn’t vary much, the deadlines were the same every night and my colleagues and I were experienced pros. But our senior producer had a tough time letting us just do our thing. Even though we sat in offices mere feet from the boss, she wanted us to send frequent e-mail updates on our progress. We could’ve been the most crackerjack TV producers. If we didn’t keep the boss in the loop, she thought we were falling down on the job.

That’s because this boss had what management professor Joe Magee calls a strong sense of ownership over the work her staff performed. An authority on power and politics within organizations, Magee teaches at New York University‘s Stern School of Business. In order to be successful at work, Magee recommends employees get curious about their bosses’ backgrounds, their goals, their values and their day-to-day management styles. To that end, he’s come up with 10 questions he recommends all workers ask their bosses.

In Pictures: Ten Questions You’d Better Ask Your Boss

Of course in these days of Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, some of this info can be gleaned quietly and quickly online. Magee also recommends the proverbial water cooler as a productive place to gather gossip and scuttlebutt.

First off and most basic: What did your boss do before she was your boss? What was her previous position? That information will help you suss out how capable she is of handling all the responsibilities on her plate. “How dependent is she going to be on you to get the job done?” asks Magee. “We think of the boss as all-knowing, but we’ve all had bosses who didn’t know what they were doing.” “Help them shine and you will look good in the process,” Magee suggests.

Following on that question, how did your boss come to her current job? Did someone get fired, and she stepped into the breach? Did she get promoted by default, simply because she was next in line? “That information can tell you what other people think about your boss,” points out Magee.

What are your boss’ career aspirations? What does she see as her next step? “Is this someone who values power and status?” asks Magee. “If so, you’d better help that person climb the corporate ladder.” Or it could be that your boss has hit a plateau and doesn’t see much more growth in her future.

What does your boss value in the job? Is she intellectually stimulated by the work? Is she just collecting a paycheck? Does she care more about internal politics or external exposure?

How does your boss fit within the larger power structure at work? Is her political capital on the rise or on the wane? Magee suggests diplomatically asking your boss this question while gathering string from colleagues.

What kind of a relationship does your boss have with her supervisor? This is also a question that requires extra research.

Does your boss advocate for her team? Does she push to get her people promoted? Will she stick her neck out for you if someone gives you a hard time?

What kind of management style works for your boss? What sort of ownership does she feel over the work her team performs? Does she want to make sure you’re on track with frequent check-ins (like my boss at the TV news show)? Or, conversely, does she give you so much rope that you can easily hang yourself? “This is one of the big things people struggle with at work,” notes Magee. “There is such individual variation.” If you work for a micro manager and suddenly get assigned to a supervisor with a hands-off style, that can require a huge shift.

What does your boss value most in the people who report to her? Face time? Creativity? Or does she care more about autonomy, expediency or attention to detail?

Finally, get to know something about your boss’ life outside work. Does she care passionately about kickboxing or her collection of vintage humidors? Is she obsessed with her new Shar-Pei puppy? Does her religious or political affiliation affect her schedule, and thus yours? Where did she go to college?

 The more you know about your boss’ values, management style, background and interests, the greater chance you’ll find success at work.

FOUR BUSINESS IDEAS FOR BEGINNERS

If you want to start your own business, consider starting out small. These business ideas are perfect for beginners. Find out the ideas here!

Fox Business shares…

Sell your stuff online. First-time business owners should consider the Internet to start a business because it has low overhead. Maintaining a website is significantly cheaper than renting retail space, and the Internet is the fastest-growing marketplace. You can sell almost anything, from albums and jewellery to vintage clothes. If you want to start even smaller than your own website, you can open up a store on wider platforms like eBay, Amazon.com, or Etsy, which specializes in handmade and vintage goods.

Start a clean-up crew. Luckily, cleaning up is a skill that will never require a business degree. You can start your home-cleaning service, taking on as few or as many clients as possible. Cleaning services are also relatively low-cost businesses, and the time commitment is generally flexible. There may already be a lot of competition for cleaners in your neighbourhood. If so, you could still squeeze yourself into the market by offering specialized services such as construction cleanup.

Open a childcare centre. If you love kids, running a childcare centre may be your business. Parents usually form strong networks, which means your business could proliferate by word of mouth. While starting a childcare center usually costs less than other enterprises, there are hidden costs like insurance fees, licenses, and the price of child-proofing your home or rented space.

Become a words wizard. With very little cost involved, you can start offering freelance copywriting, editing, or proofreading services. More specialized paths include medical transcription, translation, or transcribing services. While most of this work does not require formal training, some form of certification can often give you a leg up on the competition. If you are detail-oriented, willing to research, and love words, this could be the perfect fit.

Get more information at Fox Business!

 

Old inner cities still exposed to lead

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

The study suggests that automotive traffic turbulence plays a significant role in re-suspension of contaminated road soils and dusts. Image: RyersonClark/iStockphoto An international research study published last week in the journal Atmospheric Environment has found that re-suspended roadside soil dust is a major source of atmospheric lead in old inner city areas. The study was conducted by Macquarie University PhD student Mark Laidlaw with Professor Mark Taylor of the University's Department of Environment and Geography, Professor Sammy Zahran of Colorado State University, Professor Howard Mielke of Tulane University and Professor Gabrielle Filippelli of Indiana University. Roadside soils in older inner-city areas became highly contaminated when lead was used in petrol between about 1923 and 1995 in the US and 1932 and 2002 in Australia, the researchers said. The study, which looked at four large American cities - Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Birmingham -suggests that automotive traffic turbulence plays a significant role in re-suspension of contaminated roadside soils and dusts. The research revealed that atmospheric soil and lead aerosols were correlated and that atmospheric solid and lead aerosols are about three times higher during weekdays than weekends and Federal Government holidays. Previous research published in 2009 by Laidlaw and Taylor confirmed that significant lead residues exist in some of Australia's older inner city areas. So, the US findings have potentially significant public health implications for some of Australia's largest cities as well - particularly on children who reside in old inner-city areas, the researchers said. "These findings suggest that in addition to remediating urban lead contaminated soil where children play, the remediation of lead contaminated soils near older high traffic roadways in the inner cities may be another fruitful method of reducing atmospheric lead exposure among inner city children," Laidlaw said. Laidlaw and Taylor are also calling for blood lead screenings to be conducted on children who live in contaminated areas. "The prevalence of blood lead poisoning in Australian inner city children is unknown because unlike the US, blood lead screenings have not been routinely performed here," Taylor said. "Most people think that the lead problem has gone away, however we've shown that it does exist in older inner-city areas and now with the latest research, we show that the contamination isn't stable, that it's re-suspended and as a consequence is re-circulated." Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Rare moon mineral found on Earth

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Previously, tranquillityite was thought to exist only in returned moon samples and lunar - and possibly Martian - meteorites. Image: DavidMSchrader/iStockphoto The last mineral thought to have been unique to the Moon has been discovered in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia.  It was identified by researchers at The University of Western Australia's Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis (CMCA). Tranquillityite, named after the Sea of Tranquillity* where the Apollo 11 moon-walkers landed in July 1969, was tentatively identified by Professor Birger Rasmussen from Curtin University while studying a polished slice of Earthly rock in a scanning electron microscope. When lunar rocks were first analysed in the 1970s after having been brought to Earth by US astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz' Aldrin and Michael Collins, scientists identified three minerals - armalcolite (after Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins), pyroxferroite and tranquillityite - that they believed were unique to the Moon. Armalcolite and pyroxferroite were later found on Earth, but when the CMCA's Dr Janet Muhling and Assistant Professor Alexandra Suvorova and their colleagues from Curtin University, published a recent paper in the journal Geology, they showed for the first time that tranquillityite occurred also on Earth. To confirm the identity of the Pilbara mineral, Dr Muhling analysed its composition by collecting X-rays emitted when the sample was targeted by an electron beam in the electron microscope.  This showed that the terrestrial mineral was made up of the same elements as lunar tranquillityite.  Electron diffraction showed that the two minerals have the same crystal structure. Previously, tranquillityite was thought to exist only in returned moon samples and lunar - and possibly Martian - meteorites. The researchers believe tranquilliltyite is the final ‘lunar' mineral to be found on Earth because it is rare, small and prone to change.  The Moon lacks water and its minerals are pristine, but even a small amount of water in terrestrial magmas will cause minerals to be altered and difficult to identify. Tranquillityite, both lunar and terrestrial, is an ideal mineral for determining the age of the enclosing rock by radiometric dating.  The Pilbara rocks in which tranquillityite occurs were once thought to have been about 820 million years old but new dating by Professor Rasmussen and colleagues at the John de Laeter Centre for Isotope Research has shown that they are about 1040 million years old. *The so-called sea is actually a giant impact crater that appears dark because it is filled with dark basaltic rocks.  It was first named by Italian astronomer Giambattista Riccioli in 1651. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

One in three lack vitamin D

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

"It is clear from the results of our study that, despite an abundance of vitamin D rich sunlight, Australians are not immune from this issue." Image: s-dmit/iStockphoto Nearly one third of Australian adults are suffering vitamin D deficiency according to a study involving more than 11,000 adults from around the country. This is the first national study to evaluate the vitamin D status of Australians. Those at greatest risk for deficiency were women, the elderly, the obese, people doing less than 2.5 hours of physical activity a week, and people of non- European background. The results highlight vitamin D deficiency as a major public health issue for Australia that requires urgent attention, said study leader Professor Robin Daly, Chair of Exercise and Ageing within the Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research at Deakin University, and honorary fellow in the Department of Medicine (Northwest Academic Centre) at the University of Melbourne. “Vitamin D deficiency is emerging as a major health problem worldwide. It is clear from the results of our study that, despite an abundance of vitamin D rich sunlight, Australians are not immune from this issue,” he said. “Low levels of vitamin D can contribute to a number of serious, potentially life-threatening, conditions such as softened bones; diseases that cause progressive muscle weakness leading to an increased risk of falls, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer and type 2 diabetes. “While it was reassuring that only four per cent of the population had severely deficient levels, national strategies are urgently needed to attack the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Australia before the problem worsens.” For the study, the researchers measured the vitamin D levels of 11,218 adults aged 25-95 years from all six states and the Northern Territory as part of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study conducted by the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in 1999-2000. The study revealed: 31 per cent of the population were vitamin D deficient Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) had levels considered by many experts as below the optimal for musculoskeletal health The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency increased with age, especially in women; 26 per cent of women aged 25-34 years were deficient which increased to 57 per cent for those aged 75 years and over. This is an important finding as vitamin D deficiency is a key risk factor for falls and fractures in the elderly. People of non-European origin were 4-5 times more likely to be deficient Those who were obese and physically inactive were around twice as likely to be vitamin D deficient The prevalence of deficiency was also found to vary markedly by season and location, with deficiency more common during winter and in people residing in the southern states of Australia. “For example, 42 per cent of women and 27 per cent of men living in the southern states were deficient during summer-autumn, which increased to 58 per cent of women and 35 per cent of men during winter-spring. Even in the northern states 31 per cent of women and 15 per cent of men were vitamin D deficient during winter-spring,” Professor Daly said. Professor Daly and his co-authors from the University of Melbourne and the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute said it was timely and appropriate to develop national strategies across the whole population and further awareness campaigns for balancing safe sun exposure and adequate vitamin D intake to ensure optimal vitamin D status year-round for all Australians. The results are published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Broken arm? Brain shifts quickly when using a sling or cast

Using a sling or cast after injuring an arm may cause your brain to shift quickly to adjust, according to a study published in the January 17, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found increases in the size of brain areas that were compensating for the injured side, and decreases in areas that were not being used due to the cast or sling.

"These results are especially interesting for rehabilitation therapy for people who've had strokes or other issues," said study author Nicolas Langer, MSc, with the University of Zurich in Switzerland. "One type of therapy restrains the unaffected, or "good," arm to strengthen the affected arm and help the brain learn new pathways. This study shows that there are both positive and negative effects of this type of treatment."

For the study, researchers examined 10 right-handed people with an injury of the upper right arm that required a sling for at least 14 days. The entire right arm and hand were restricted to little or no movement during the study period. As a result, participants used their non-dominant left hand for daily activities such as washing, using a toothbrush, eating or writing. None of the people in the study had a brain injury, psychiatric disease or nerve injury.

The group underwent two MRI brain scans, the first within two days of the injury and the second within 16 days of wearing the cast or sling. The scans measured the amount of gray and white matter in the brain. Participants' motor skills, including arm-hand movements and wrist-finger speed, were also tested.

The study found that amount of gray and white matter in the left side of the brain decreased up to ten percent, while the amount of gray and white matter in the right side of the brain increased in size.

"We also saw improved motor skills in the left, non-injured hand, which directly related to an increase in thickness in the right side of the brain," said Langer. "These structural changes in the brain are associated with skill transfer from the right hand to the left hand."

Langer noted that the study did not look at whether the decreases would be permanent.

"Further studies should examine whether using a restraint for stroke patients is really a necessity for improving arm and hand movement," he said. "Our results also support the current trauma surgery guidelines stating that an injured arm or leg should be immobilized 'as short as possible, as long as necessary.'"

Provided by American Academy of Neurology

"Broken arm? Brain shifts quickly when using a sling or cast." January 16th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-broken-arm-brain-shifts-quickly.html

 

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

அல் குர்ஆன்

அல் குர்ஆன் - அத்தியாயம் - 1
அளவற்ற அருளாளன், நிகரற்ற அன்பாளன், அல்லாஹ்வின் பெயரால்! (தொடங்குகிறேன்). 
அனைத்துப்புகழும், அகிலங்கள் எல்லாவற்றையும் படைத்து வளர்த்துப் பரிபக்குவப்படுத்தும் (நாயனான) அல்லாஹ்வுக்கே ஆகும். 
(அவன்) அளவற்ற அருளாளன், நிகரற்ற அன்புடையோன்.
(அவனே நியாயத்) தீர்ப்பு நாளின் அதிபதி(யும் ஆவான்). 
(இறைவா!) உன்னையே நாங்கள் வணங்குகிறோம், உன்னிடமே நாங்கள் உதவியும் தேடுகிறோம்.
நீ எங்களை நேர் வழியில் நடத்துவாயாக!
அது) நீ எவர்களுக்கு அருள் புரிந்தாயோ அவ்வழி, (அது) உன் கோபத்துக்கு ஆளானோர் வழியுமல்ல, நெறி தவறியோர் வழியுமல்ல.
அல் குர்ஆன் - அத்தியாயம் 2 - வசனம் 22
அ(ந்த இறை)வனே உங்களுக்காக பூமியை விரிப்பாகவும், வானத்தை விதானமாகவும் அமைத்து, வானத்தினின்றும் மழை பொழியச்செய்து, அதனின்று உங்கள் உணவிற்காகக் கனி வர்க்கங்களை வெளிவரச் செய்கிறான்; (இந்த உண்மைகளையெல்லாம்) நீங்கள் அறிந்து கொண்டே இருக்கும் நிலையில் அல்லாஹ்வுக்கு இணைகளை ஏற்படுத்தாதீர்கள். 
அல் குர்ஆன் - அத்தியாயம் - 113
(நபியே!) நீர் சொல்வீராக: அதிகாலையின் இறைவனிடத்தில் நான் காவல் தேடுகிறேன்.
அவன் படைத்தவற்றின் தீங்கை விட்டும்-
இருள் பரவும் போது ஏற்படும் இரவின் தீங்கை விட்டும்-
இன்னும், முடிச்சுகளில் (மந்திரித்து) ஊதும் பெண்களின் தீங்கை விட்டும்,
பொறாமைக்காரன் பொறாமை கொள்ளும் போதுண்டாகும் தீங்கை விட்டும் (காவல் தேடுகிறேன்).
அல் குர்ஆன் - அத்தியாயம் - 114
(நபியே!) நீர் கூறுவீராக: மனிதர்களின் இறைவனிடத்தில் நான் காவல் தேடுகிறேன்.
(அவனே) மனிதர்களின் அரசன்;
(அவனே) மனிதர்களின் நாயன்.
பதுங்கியிருந்து வீண் சந்தேகங்களை உண்டாக்குபவனின் தீங்கை விட்டும் (இறைவனிடத்தில் நான் காவல் தேடுகிறேன்).
அவன் மனிதர்களின் இதயங்களில் வீண் சந்தேகங்களை உண்டாக்குகிறான்.
(இத்தகையோர்) ஜின்களிலும், மனிதர்களிலும் இருக்கின்றனர்.

Researchers identify facial expression for anxiety

(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King's College London have, for the first time, identified the facial expression of anxiety. The facial expression for the emotion of anxiety comprises an environmental scanning look that appears to aid risk assessment. The research was published this week in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 

Dr. Adam Perkins, lead author of the study at the IoP at King's says: 'Our research group focuses on understanding the causes of anxiety. No one knows exactly what anxiety is. However many animal studies link it to risk assessment behaviour, suggesting anxiety can be explained as a defensive adaptation. We wanted to see if this was also the case in humans.'

The researchers described specific scenarios likely to elicit standard emotions, such as happiness, sadness, anger, disgust and surprise to a group of participants.  They also described scenarios containing ambiguous threats, which are known to elicit risk assessment and anxiety in rodents. Participants were asked to pose whatever facial expression they judged appropriate to the scenarios. A second group of individuals were shown photos and videos of the facial expressions generated in response to the scenarios and asked to match the facial expressions back to the original selection of scenarios. They were also asked to generate an emotion label for each facial expression that they matched to a scenario. 

Facial expression images were correctly matched in 89% of emotive scenario presentations on average. The facial expression generated in response to an ambiguous threat scenario was correctly matched to ambiguously threatening scenarios in 90% of scenario presentations. 

A third group of participants preferentially matched this facial expression with the label anxiety, not fear or any other major emotion. The characteristics of the facial expression for anxiety comprised darting eyes and head swivels that echoed the risk assessment behaviour of anxious rodents. These results suggest that the anxious facial expression in humans serves to increase information gathering and knowledge of the potentially threatening environment through expanding the individual’s visual and auditory fields. Therefore the anxious facial expression appears to have both functional and social components - its characteristics help assess our surrounding environment, and communicate to others our emotional state.

Dr. Perkins adds: 'We hope our findings will in due course help doctors more effectively diagnose anxiety in their patients. We also think the findings may also help security personnel identify individuals engaged in wrongdoing by means of their anxious, risk assessing facial expression.'

.

More information: Perkins, A. ‘A facial expression for anxiety’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (January 2012) doi: 10.1037/a0026825

Provided by King's College London

"Researchers identify facial expression for anxiety." January 16th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-facial-anxiety.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

2.5 Kg Gold Utensils Offered to Sai Baba @ Shirdi

The Shape of TV to Come

Samsung's new television integrates a number of technologies that have been gathering steam in recent years.

Stephen Cass

These large, thin OLED screens can be controlled with voice and gesture controls. Credit: Samsung

While the picture quality and screen size is likely to be the most immediately striking thing about the 55-inch Super OLED TV Samsung unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, some of the less visible technologies in the TV could prove to be more significant in the long term. The Super OLED is, like virtually all new high-televisions, a smart TV, capable of running local applications and accessing the Internet. What's new is Samsung's approach to the thorny challenge of the smart TV interface, using motion and voice control.
The interface problem arises because TV is what's been dubbed as a "lean back" experience. Most users prefer a simple remote control that allows them to turn the TV on and off, select a channel, and adjust the volume. But navigating a video streaming service, or sending a tweet, are relatively complex activities typically associated with the "lean forward" experience of computers where at least a keyboard (even if only an on-screen tablet one) is available.
One solution is to make the remote control considerably more complicated, incorporating a complete keyboard, which was the tack initially taken by Sony (among others) with its Internet TV, created in partnership with Google. But the approach failed to gain traction. Far more promising has been the idea of using gestural interfaces, which would allow users to control devices without the need for any remote control at all—for example, a user could simply sweep an arm through the air to scroll through a page of search results. The Super OLED uses a built-in camera to capture motion in the foreground to control its smart TV services, supplementing the motion controls with voice controls picked up by a pair of built-in microphones. And it doesn't seem like it'll be long before other manufacturers incorporate similar features: at its CES keynote presentation, Microsoft discussed how it intends to adapt the Kinect system originally developed for its XBox 360 game console for interactive TV applications.

How Likely Is a Runaway Greenhouse Effect on Earth?

The results of the latest analysis are not entirely reassuring.

Sometime in the last few billion years, disaster struck one of Earth's nearest neighbours. Planetary geologists think there is good evidence that Venus was the victim of a runaway greenhouse effect which turned the planet into the boiling hell we see today.

A similar catastrophe is almost certain to strike Earth in about 2 billion years, as the Sun increases in luminosity.

But that raises an important question: is it possible that we could trigger a runaway greenhouse effect ourselves by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?

According to the climate scientist James Hansen, that's a distinct possibility. A couple of years ago, he wrote: "If we burn all reserves of oil, gas, and coal, there's a substantial chance that we will initiate the runaway greenhouse. If we also burn the tar sands and tar shale, I believe the Venus syndrome is a dead certainty."

Today, Colin Goldblatt at the University of Victoria in Canada and Andrew Watson at the University of East Anglia in the UK, publish an interesting analysis of this question and, while they are nowhere near as pessimistic as Hansen, their conclusion is not entirely re-assuring.

Here's the background. The fear is that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is warming the planet and increasing evaporation from the oceans. The extra water vapour, itself a greenhouse gas, causes more warming and more evaporation in a vicious cycle of temperature increases that eventually result in the ocean boiling away.

This runaway greenhouse only stops when the atmosphere reaches some 1400 degrees C, causing it to emit thermal radiation at a wavelength that water vapour does not absorb and so can radiate into space.

In the above scenario, there is nothing to stop a runaway greenhouse whenever there is a small increase in temperature, like the one climate scientists have seen in the last few years. But the historical records shows us that small increases in temperature do not trigger runaway greenhouses.

Atmospheric physcists have known for some time that the physics is a little more complex than this. Goldblatt and Watson point out that when the temperature rises, the Earth emits more heat into space and this cools the planet providing an important balancing mechanism.

The crucial point is that there is a specific limit to the amount of radiation the atmosphere can emit. So a runaway greenhouse can only occur when the Earth is close to that limit.

So the question now becomes this: can the anthropological emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere push us close enough to this limit to trigger a runaway greenhouse?

Goldblatt and Watson have an answer: "The good news is that almost all lines of evidence lead us to believe that it is unlikely to be possible, even in principle, to trigger full a runaway greenhouse by addition of noncondensible greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere."

But there is an important caveat. Atmospheric physics is so complex that climate scientists have only a rudimentary understanding of how it works. For example, Goldblatt and Watson admit that the above conclusion takes no account of the role that clouds might play in this process.

And scientists' ignorance of the processes at work raises a significant question mark. As Goldblatt and Watson put it: "Is there any missed physics or weak assumptions that have been made, which if corrected could mean that the runaway is a greater risk? We cannot answer this with the confidence which would make us feel comfortable."

That's something worth worrying about. What's needed, of course, is a major effort to better understand the physics of warm moist atmospheres and something like this is indeed happening.

Goldblatt and Watson are sufficiently worried to suggest that we start thinking of mitigation strategies, should their reasoning turn out to be flawed. "In the event that our analysis is wrong, we would be left with the situation in which only geoengineering could save us," they say.

They devote some of their paper to this problem. "In the distant future, modifying Earth's orbit might provide a sustainable solution," they conclude.

All the more reason to redouble our efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. As Goldblatt and Watson put it in their conclusion: "The imperative to cut greenhouse gas emissions remains."

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1201.1593: The Runaway Greenhouse: Implications For Future Climate Change, Geoengineering And Planetary Atmospheres

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Mathematicians Reveal Serial Killer's Pattern of Murder

A simple mathematical model of the brain explains the pattern of murders by a serial killer, say researchers

On 20 November 1990, Andrei Chikatilo was arrested in Rostov, a Russian state bordering Ukraine. After nine days in custody, Chikatilo confessed to the murder of 36 girls, boys and women over a 12-year period. He later admitted to 20 murders, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history.

Today, Mikhail Simkin and Vwani Roychowdhury at the University of California, Los Angeles, release a mathematical analysis of Chikatilo's pattern of behaviour. They say the behaviour is well characterised by a power law and that this is exactly what would be expected if Chikatilo's behaviour is caused by a certain pattern of neuronal firing in the brain.

Their thinking is based on the fundamental behaviour of neurons. When a neuron fires, it cannot fire again until it has recharged, a time known as the refractory period.

Each neuron is connected to thousands of others. Some of these will also be ready to fire and so can be triggered by the first neuron. These,  in turn, will be connected to more neurons and so on. So it's easy to see how a chain reaction of firings can sweep through the brain if conditions are ripe.

But this by itself cannot explain a serial killer's behaviour. "We cannot expect that the killer commits murder right at the moment when neural excitation reaches a certain threshold. He needs time to plan and prepare for his crime," say Simkin and Roychowdhury.

Instead, they suggest that a serial killer only commits murder after the threshold has been exceeded for a certain time.

They also assume that the murderer sedates the killer, causing the neuronal activity to drop below the threshold.

Simkin and Roychowdhury used their model to simulate the pattern of firing in a brain to see how often it surpasses a given threshold long enough for a murder to take place.

In the model, they used a 2 millisecond period as the fundamental time step, that's about the time between firings in a real neuron. And they simulated some 100 billion time steps, equivalent to 12 years or so, that's about the period that Chikatilo was active.

The results are remarkably similar to the distribution of Chikatilo's real murders and Simkin and Roychowdhury speculate that it would be relatively straightforward to introduce a realistic correction factor that would make the fit closer.

They say: "One could enhance the model by introducing a murder success rate. That is with certain probability everything goes well for the killer and he is able to commit the murder as he planned. If not, he repeats his attempt the next day. And so on."

This model leads to an interesting insight into the nature of serial killing. It suggests that the likelihood of another killing is much higher soon after a murder than it is after a long period has passed.

That's a well known property of power law distributions that holds true for all kinds of phenomenon. A large earthquake, for example, is more likely soon after another large earthquake.

Interestingly, Simkin and Roychowdhury's work bares much similarity to other recent work suggesting that the distribution of epileptic fits also follows a power law. The reasoning here is the same too--that patterns of neuronal firing can spread through the brain, like an avalanche, causing a fit in the process.

This suggests an obvious avenue for future research in working out whether other forms of extreme behaviour, and indeed ordinary behaviour, follow the same pattern. Perhaps these guys and others are already working on the data.

Chikatilo was eventually convicted of 52 murders and executed by a gunshot to head in 1994.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1201.2458: Stochastic Modeling Of A Serial Killer

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The Newest Revolutions in Metamaterials Bring Invisibility Within Reach

By Becky Ferreira 

Invisibility Chip Reuters/David Moir

The science of stealth has long been a matter of fading into already obscure environments—the night sky, say, or the deep sea. But engineers are now developing materials that could hide anything in plain sight. Instead of bending light inward, like water and glass do, these optical metamaterials bend it outward, guiding photons around an object like river water around a stone.
The metal alloys in metamaterials are arranged in a grid fitted with openings smaller than the wavelengths of visible light (400 to 700 nanometers). Light cannot pass unimpeded through any space smaller than its own wavelength, so it gets trapped in the grid. Captured photons can be stored, manipulated or, in this case, funneled around an object and returned to their original course. An object cloaked by a perfectly made metamaterial would cast no shadow.
Until last year, scientists were able to produce only paper-thick metamaterial sheets just large enough to cloak objects the size of a bacterium. Last June, John Rogers, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois, unveiled a metamaterial printer. “We can now bang out gigantic sheets of this stuff,” he says, “though the grid designs need more work before these quantities will be practical.” The sheets feel like plastic. For now, objects placed behind one of these sheets would just appear a little faded, since the design is still imperfect. “Losing an invisibility cloak would be a nice problem to have,” Rogers says. “But creating one in the first place is the bigger challenge.”

Next-Generation Surveillance Robots Can Analyze Their Environment

By David Hambling 

Snakebot Courtesy Special Operations Apps

Manned surveillance missions are critical to obtaining useful intelligence. But sending a soldier into sensitive areas can often be too dangerous. Scientists are developing robots that could do the job. Last spring, the Advanced Technologies Laboratory at Lockheed Martin unveiled a prototype that uses sensors to model its environment, detect potential threats, calculate lines of sight, and locate good hiding places.

Next-generation surveillance robots will probably combine sensors similar to those on the prototype with more-powerful artificial intelligence and a stealthy body. One such device could be the snakebot, developed by a team at the Biorobotics and Biomechanics Lab at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. The robot could infiltrate sewage pipes, crawl under floorboards, or coil up and stand upright for a better view. It could even shed one of its segments, dropping off audio bugs or explosive warheads for assassination missions.

NATURAL MOVEMENT

The six-foot snakebot (top) consists of polymer segments connected by flexible joints and is powered by electric motors. Movement control relies on software that determines the best mode of travel—wriggling, rolling, corkscrewing—for each situation. Sidewinding is fastest but requires good traction; inching forward by undulating the body is slower but works in confined spaces; rolling may be easiest on a flat surface. The snakebot can also rise up to climb stairs and other vertical obstacles.

3-D MAPPING

The robot’s laser-radar cameras scan the environment to determine the distance to every reflecting surface in 360 degrees, generating a “point cloud” of readings. Software joins the dots, turning them into a 3-D model of the surroundings. From the model, the robot can determine a threat’s sight line, assess and navigate toward hiding spots, and steer clear of dangerously exposed areas.

SMARTER SENSORS

A set of four directional microphones enables the robot to detect approaching humans. By comparing the time that sounds reach each mic, the robot can calculate a threat’s location, bearing and speed, and use that data to determine if it needs to hide.

The First Ever Saturn-Like Exoplanet Surrounded by Orbital Rings

By Clay Dillow 

A Saturn-Like Ringed Planet, 420 Light-Years Away Michael Osadciw/University of Rochester

The hits just keep on coming out of Austin this week as the 219th meeting of the American Astronomical Society rolls on. Researchers there have announced the discovery of the first Saturn-like ringed object outside our solar system, documented when researchers were trying to diagnose the cause of a strange eclipsing effect emanating from a nearby star.
We’re using the term “Saturn-like” loosely here. Researchers are confident they are dealing with a ringed astronomical body, but it’s unclear right now whether it’s a planet, a brown dwarf, or even a star that they are seeing out there in Scorpius-Centaurus, the nearest region of recent large-scale star formation some 420 light-years away. But they are sure they are witnessing some strange eclipsing phenomena as they study light incoming from a nearby star.

Using the International SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) and the All Sky Automated Survey instruments, the researchers were searching for exoplanets by analyzing the fluctuations in light coming from sun-like stars (as exoplanets and other bodies pass between us and distant stars, their brightness varies, indicating the presence of an exoplanet). While examining star 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 (there are a lot of stars out there) they noticed not the usual steady dimming and brightening associated with an exoplanet, but a long eclipse characterized by a lot of intermittent dimming and brightening. Where the eclipse was most significant, 95 percent of the star’s light was being blocked. Further observation has led the researchers, from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile and the University of Rochester, to determine that the eclipsing body is some kind of object with several orbiting rings of dust debris, interspersed with gaps (hence the intermittent on-and-off eclipsing). It’s the first detection of Saturn-like dust rings outside of our solar system, with the outmost ring stretches some 37 million miles outward from the orbiting body itself.
https://www.space.com/