New technology can democratise development | Caroline Anstey

The 1994 conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, where the World Bank and the IMF were born. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

An old black-and-white photograph taken in 1944 at the conference in Bretton Woods that gave birth to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows men in grey suits meeting to design the future multilateral system. Fast-forward 67 years to a community a few kilometres west of the capital of Tanzania, where local residents are using GPS devices to collect public data on the delivery of local services – schools, health clinics, public toilets and rubbish dumps – so the information can be uploaded to an online data map, ultimately holding their government accountable.

As government ministers, international aid organisations, non-government organisations, foundations and others gather in Busan, South Korea, for the fourth high-level forum on aid effectiveness to discuss the future of aid co-ordination, one thing is clear: the development future doesn't lie with men in dark suits behind closed doors. Not only are developing countries now providing two-thirds of global growth, turning the old north-south aid paradigm on its head, but it is becoming clearer that effective development needs the participation not just of governments but of beneficiaries, local communities and citizens more broadly. And with 21st-century technology, we now have the means to make it happen.

It was the use of the internet – an interactive platform called checkmyschool.org – that saw an elementary school principal in Leyte province in the Philippines get much-needed building work to resume at her school, damaged by a natural disaster. The principal went online and lodged a complaint about the delay, fearing corrupt procurement practices were responsible. Her complaint prompted a speedy response. The work was completed and 800 students were given a new school roof.

It was via SMS messages from cellphones that citizens in the conflict-affected province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were able to vote for local budget priorities, to break a vicious cycle of mistrust and poorly performing services. As a result, for the first time in decades, local budgets started to include investments in local communities providing basic services to the poor, and in response, citizens started to pay taxes.

These moves to transparency – giving citizens access to information – gives 21st-century meaning to the saying "knowledge is power".

And the power of knowledge can spread even further: transparency breeds accountability and a focus on results – for the taxpayer a sense that aid monies are being used wisely, for the citizen a sense that government is doing the right thing. The tranparency spotlight has already been on donors. The UK-based coalition of civil society organisations working on governance, aid effectiveness, and access to information, Publish What You Fund, has just released its aid transparency indexrating 58 international and bilateral donors and ranking the World Bank as most transparent. But before we become too self-congratulory, let's recall its overall message: some donors do well, all donors can do better.

Perhaps we can take some heart from another study on aid quality released this month, as a nudge to Busan. The Centre for Global Development and the Brookings Institution found the World Bank's fund for the poorest, theInternational Development Association, the UK and Ireland all scored in the top 10. And the study found, because of greater commitments to transparency, the area in which donors make the most improvement was in transparency and learning.

We've all learned that there's no one size fits all answer to development. As the Busan gathering will illustrate, no one has a monopoly on development. We're seeing the lessons learned in the developing world transcend borders – Rwanda was inspired by China's successful move to terrace-degraded hillsides; Colombia's model for mass transit has been copied widely; and India's model for information communication technologies is being studied across the African continent.

Truly democratising development means seizing all the opportunities offered by information communication technologies. It was a prime motivation behind the World Bank's move more than a year ago to open up its data banks. New web-based and mobile tools make it easier for the public to find, use and download bank data in five languages. Rich or poor, from the developed or the developing world, people have the tools to play a role in devising development solutions.

Developing countries, too, are seeing value in opening up their data. Kenya this year became the first country on the African continent to launch a national open data initiative. It took just three weeks. Now it's possible for anyone to obtain census or budget data, check on spending at the county level or even find a nearby health facility. Moldova has done the same. Other nations such as Mongolia, Nigeria and Rwanda want to follow suit.

Transparency isn't just about following the money trail from the top down. An equally important part of the equation is looking at the delivery of aid from the ground up – examining ways to provide citizens not only the knowledge about what's being delivered by development dollars but also the means to act upon that knowledge to help find and monitor development solutions.

And there's a double-win. Transparency and citizen involvement are not only a check on corruption, they can also be mobilised to improve development outcomes. Take Uganda where health workers at 50 health centres across the country were inspired to work harder after community monitoring – via citizen score cards. The result: a 33% drop in child mortality in the centres.

A key lesson of the Arab spring was that citizens' voice must be an integral part of development. It's a lesson we should heed. Investments that give voice to people are just as vital as money. Information and participation are as valuable as dollars if we want development assistance to be truly effective.

• Caroline Anstey is managing director of the World Bank

Best Fit

“It is by great fortune that one comes to Krishna consciousness on the path of bhakti-yoga to become well situated according to the Vedic direction.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 6.47 Purport) “Time to try on new clothes. So many different kinds are here, so which set will be the best one to wear?” When in these scenarios, will we select something twice our recommended size? What about the clothes that are too small? Obviously only the perfect fit will suffice, for otherwise the stated objective can’t be reached. Whether it’s to look good or finish some work, the clothes must properly match our bodily dimensions to maximize comfort. In the bigger picture, the human form of body can be considered the best fit for the spirit soul looking to release its unlimited potential for divine love. How do we know that this potential exists? And why the qualification of “divine”? Does not the animal love? Dogs and cats are known to be affectionate towards their significant others and family members, so how can we deny their potential for love? To understand the uniqueness of the human form, imagine having only a spoon to use to cut your food. What if someone gave us a fork to eat our soup? These objects are mismatches, so we won’t be able to accomplish what we want. The tools may be useful, but they don’t fit the particular situation, the task that requires completion. In the same manner, every type of material body has some value, some utility, but not all of them allow for the constitutional activities of the soul to take place uninhibited. What is the difference between constitutional activities and non-constitutional ones? The distinction is rooted in situation - time, circumstance and objective. A person playing baseball has the constitutional activity of catching, throwing and hitting a baseball. If they were to show up in a soccer uniform, their ability to play baseball would be hindered. If you showed up to a soccer match with a tennis racket, the extra weight in your hand would only slow you down as you ran up and down the field. The spirit soul is the essence of identity, the spark of life if you will. As a tiny spark, the soul can have many different homes. The living entity is therefore called sarva-ga, which means he can travel to every destination there is. A human being must live inside a home, a fish inside of water, a bird on a tree, and a tiger in the jungle, but the living entity in general can actually be placed anywhere. The same identifying aspect is present within every life form. One individual spirit soul can find a destination in the sky, water, earth, or even deep within the ground, like where the worms and ants live. If we, being spirit soul, can live anywhere, where is the best place to go? For the human being not fully God conscious, being unaware of their spiritual identity, the most pleasant home is that place where amusements and delights can be found in great abundance. As this usually comes from good association, any place where friends and family can be found becomes the most pleasant destination. One person’s friends and family may not be located in the same place as another’s; therefore it is impossible to say that a single area’s pleasantness applies universally, across every single human being. Upon further abstraction, we see that it is the spirit soul which seeks pleasure. The soul is blissful by nature, wherefore it seeks ananda. It is also eternal and in full knowledge. These last two aspects are little difficult to perceive on our own. After all, we know that birth and death mark the beginning and end points of a person’s existence. Sort of like cutting out a segment from a timeline, the person’s lifetime is determined by the amount of time elapsed between birth and death. Where they were before birth and where they end up after death are both mysteries that can’t be uncovered by the naked eye. Because of this deficiency, to understand that the spirit soul is eternal is a little difficult at first. “As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna   , Bhagavad-gita   , 2.13) The Bhagavad-gita, India’s treasured treatise on spirituality, dissipates some of the fogginess. It’s difficult to understand that the soul of the living being existed prior to the current birth and that it will continue to remain vibrant after death, but these relevant facts can be revealed by observing the outward changes to a living entity. From the time of birth, the body constantly morphs, yet the identity of the individual does not. The baby is completely different in shape, behavior and intelligence than the same person as an adult, yet the identifiable aspect within does not undergo change. We don’t consider the baby and the adult of the same being to be two different people. Reincarnation   , or the transmigration of the soul, is best perceived through observing the changing body. As soon as there is death, another body type is assumed by the same living entity. This also means that prior to the current birth there was a different body type assumed, sort of like putting on and taking off clothes. The clothes analogy works nicely because it also accounts for the variety in behavior. Some people are known to be quick to acquire intelligence, learn instruction and follow a specific path that is otherwise deemed difficult. Others are perpetually in darkness and misery, finding difficulties in every turn in life. The differences are due to the body type assumed, which has accompanying material qualities. In Sanskrit these qualities are known as gunas, which can also translate to “ropes”. A rope is useful in specific situations, but if it should happen to be tightly wrapped around our body against our will, we would be severely limited in our autonomous movement. We might be tempted to say that the person tied up with ropes couldn’t do anything, but that is not the case. While bound up they could still think, hear, see, and make observations with the brain. Their consciousness would still be there, which means that the body and its movement are not the determining factors in the vibrancy of the living entity. As long as consciousness is present, there is life. Since the consciousness comes from the soul, the body of the living being does not form its identity; the soul does. The body types of the lower species can be likened to forms that are tied with ropes. The tree is a living entity, but it cannot move. Though it lives in the same spot for many, many years, no one would dare consider the tree more advanced than the human being. In the theory of evolution, fitness is measured by survivability. Species are considered evolved if they can better adapt to their environment. Adaptation refers to the ability to survive in the specific conditions. Surviving means staying alive. In that case, the tree doesn’t have to adapt at all; it can remain alive through every season, sometimes standing still for thousands of years. Simply by observing the tree, the measurement of fitness in the theory of evolution is invalidated, as living longer is not always better. When presented the choice, would a human being rather remain tied up with ropes for one hundred years or go about enjoying life without ropes for fifty years? As most would choose the latter, we see that living long is not the ideal measure of advancement. Rather, the ability to exercise one’s natural qualities, which come from the soul, is what determines auspiciousness in conditions. The individual’s inherent qualities cannot come from the body type inherited; this body can only dampen qualities. The lamp that is shining brightly is the source of light in a room, even when a shade is covering it. Some shades may let out more light than others, but never, at any time, does the shade itself become the source of the light. In living beings, the spirit soul is the spark of life, and the body types assumed can only hamper the soul’s exhibition of its natural dharma, or inherent characteristics. Within any species, the soul’s primary dharma is the desire to serve, which is based on love. In the human species, where the ropes of material qualities are the loosest, the serving propensity is evidenced in every activity. Even in the wealthiest individuals, those with billions of dollars in net worth, eventually there comes a time when guilt sets in, where happiness is no longer found through the accumulation of more money. At that time, the wealthy person turns to philanthropy, desiring to serve their fellow man. If serving is beneficial after you have satisfied your senses with money, then surely it is just as beneficial for those who forgo that passionate pursuit from the beginning. The human body is the best fit for the conditioned living entity - he who travels through the endless spiral of reincarnation - because it brings the best opportunity for consciousness to be fully developed. We send children to school because from past experience we know that if a child is educated properly and thoroughly, they can grow up to be wise adults, capable of staying self-sufficient and making a beneficial contribution to society. Since consciousness can be developed, its development should be aimed in the proper direction. This is where bhakti-yoga, or devotional service   , comes in. Religion    without philosophy is sentiment, and philosophy without religion is mental speculation. Therefore to find the real fruit of existence, we need to combine both philosophy and sentiment to give us real religion. Bhakti-yoga fits in perfectly, for it already incorporates reincarnation, the position of the soul, the inhibiting influence of material nature, and the need to love. The right sentiment is introduced when the ideal beneficiary of service is identified. Not surprisingly, that person is God, whom most of the world knows in some way. Even if God is not known or His existence vehemently denied, He is honored and worshiped through His form of nature. The wealthy person honoring money shows respect to God in some way, for the Lord is the original proprietor. Every person acknowledges a higher force, so each person’s understanding of God correlates with the recognized influence of that higher power. God is known as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or Bhagavan, in the Vedic tradition, which gives us wonderful scriptures like the Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad Bhagavatam   . Bhagavan is the ultimate authority; He is the complete manifestation of everything honored in this world. He is the ideal beneficiary for the loving propensity of the spirit soul because He is inherently linked to every living entity. From one God came many spiritual sparks, like tiny children inheriting the qualities of their father to a lesser degree. The Supreme Lord is known as Krishna because He is all-attractive. Acting like magnets, the tiny spiritual sparks traveling through reincarnation are inherently attracted to loving service to Krishna, but depending on the body type they assume, that inclination may be inhibited. The human being has the best opportunity for rekindling the dormant God consciousness resting within the heart. Divine love is awakened through acts of devotion, the most effective of which is the chanting    of the holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare   ”. Chant Krishna’s names, hear the sound vibration that represents Him fully with your ears, and keep the vision of His sweet form that holds a flute and wears a peacock feather within your mind. Through properly conditioning consciousness you will find pleasure in any situation. The best fit of the human body allows for devotion to continue uninterrupted and without motivation. As both interruption and motivation are negated, there is no chance of being taken away from the bhakti platform. How can any ropes tie down the devotee sincerely desirous of connecting with Krishna, who is the most powerful? Why would the Supreme Lord ever let His devotees    be affected by outside influences when all they want is to think about Him, chant His glories, and hear about His activities? In other species, other body types, the fit isn’t perfect; therefore the loving propensity gets directed to other areas. In the human species, the fit can also lead us in the wrong direction, but at least there is the opportunity for finding the right playing field, one whose properties match the constitutional qualities of the living entity. Just as the human body is the best fit for the spirit soul separated from Krishna’s company, the holy name is the perfect sound vibration for the tongue desirous of speaking and singing. Prasadam   , the remnants of foodstuff offered first to Krishna, is the perfect fit for the taste buds of the tongue, and the vision of the Shri Vigraha [deity   ] is the perfect fit for the eyes which are desirous of staring at something beautiful. Using every sense to remain in Krishna consciousness, the perfect fit of a home, the spiritual world, is granted to the liberated soul at the time of death. In Closing: In shopping the keen purchaser clothes buys, That match their dimensions, the perfect size. Wrong fit brings pain and discomfort, Wearing them not fun, enjoyment they hurt. Living entity can take on many body types, From gunas material conditions one must fight. By ability to love God is fitness measured, To chant holy name of Krishna that is treasured. Thus for spirit soul human form is best fit, Allows for reaching God after body quit.

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'Double Tsunami' Doubled Japan Destruction

A 3D ocean model created by Y. Tony Song of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and colleagues replicates the March 11, 2011 tsunami. The red line shows the path of the Jason-1 satellite, which crossed the wave front at the site of a double-high wave. (Credit: Image courtesy of NASA)

Science Daily  — Researchers have discovered that the destructive tsunami generated by the March 2011 Tōhoku-Oki earthquake was a long-hypothesized "merging tsunami" that doubled in intensity over rugged ocean ridges, amplifying its destructive power before reaching shore.

The discovery helps explain how tsunamis can cross ocean basins to cause massive destruction at some locations while leaving others unscathed, and raises hope that scientists may be able to improve tsunami forecasts.Satellites captured not just one wave front that day, but at least two, which merged to form a single double-high wave far out at sea -- one capable of traveling long distances without losing its power. Ocean ridges and undersea mountain chains pushed the waves together, but only along certain directions from the tsunami's origin.

At a news conference Dec. 5 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, Y. Tony Song, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); and C.K. Shum, professor and Distinguished University Scholar in the Division of Geodetic Science, School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State University, discussed the satellite data and simulations that enabled them to piece the story together.

"It was a one-in-ten-million chance that we were able to observe this double wave with satellites," said Song, the study's principal investigator. "Researchers have suspected for decades that such 'merging tsunamis' might have been responsible for the 1960 Chilean tsunami that killed many in Japan and Hawaii, but nobody had definitively observed a merging tsunami until now."

"It was like looking for a ghost," he continued. "A NASA/French Space Agency satellite altimeter happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture the double wave and verify its existence."

Shum agreed. "We were very lucky, not only in the timing of the satellite, but also to have access to such detailed GPS-observed ground motion data from Japan to initiate Tony's tsunami model, and to validate the model results using the satellite data. Now we can use what we learned to make better forecasts of tsunami danger in specific coastal regions anywhere in the world, depending on the location and the mechanism of an undersea quake."

The NASA/Centre National d'Etudes Spaciales Jason-1 satellite passed over the tsunami on March 11, as did two other satellites: the NASA/European Jason-2 and the European Space Agency's EnviSAT. All three carry a radar altimeter, which measures sea level changes to an accuracy of a few centimeters.

Each satellite crossed the tsunami at a different location. Jason-2 and EnviSAT measured wave heights of 20 cm (8 inches) and 30 cm (12 inches), respectively. But as Jason-1 passed over the undersea Mid-Pacific Mountains to the east, it captured a wave front measuring 70 cm (28 inches).

The researchers conjectured ridges and undersea mountain chains on the ocean floor deflected parts of the initial tsunami wave away from each other to form independent jets shooting off in different directions, each with its own wave front.

The sea floor topography nudges tsunami waves in varying directions and can make a tsunami's destruction appear random. For that reason, hazard maps that try to predict where tsunamis will strike rely on sub-sea topography. Previously, these maps only considered topography near a particular shoreline. This study suggests scientists may be able to create maps that take into account all undersea topography, even sub-sea ridges and mountains far from shore.

Song and his team were able to verify the satellite data through model simulations based on independent data, including the GPS data from Japan and buoy data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis program.

"Tools based on this research could help officials forecast the potential for tsunami jets to merge," said Song. "This, in turn, could lead to more accurate coastal tsunami hazard maps to protect communities and critical infrastructure."

Song and Shum's collaborators include Ichiro Fukumori, an oceanographer and supervisor in JPL's Ocean Circulation Group; and Yuchan Yi, a research scientist in the Division of Geodetic Science, School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State.

This research was supported by NASA.

NASA's Kepler Confirms Its First Planet in Habitable Zone Outside Our Solar System

This artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. (Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech)                                         Science Daily  — NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets.

Previous research hinted at the existence of near-Earth-size planets in habitable zones, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Two other small planets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our sun recently were confirmed on the very edges of the habitable zone, with orbits more closely resembling those of Venus and Mars.The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.

"This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe."

Kepler discovers planets and planet candidates by measuring dips in the brightness of more than 150,000 stars to search for planets that cross in front, or "transit," the stars. Kepler requires at least three transits to verify a signal as a planet.

"Fortune smiled upon us with the detection of this planet," said William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., who led the team that discovered Kepler-22b. "The first transit was captured just three days after we declared the spacecraft operationally ready. We witnessed the defining third transit over the 2010 holiday season."

The Kepler science team uses ground-based telescopes and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to review observations on planet candidates the spacecraft finds. The star field that Kepler observes in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra can only be seen from ground-based observatories in spring through early fall. The data from these other observations help determine which candidates can be validated as planets.

Kepler-22b is located 600 light-years away. While the planet is larger than Earth, its orbit of 290 days around a sun-like star resembles that of our world. The planet's host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.

Of the 54 habitable zone planet candidates reported in February 2011, Kepler-22b is the first to be confirmed. This milestone will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The Kepler team is hosting its inaugural science conference at Ames Dec. 5-9, announcing 1,094 new planet candidate discoveries. Since the last catalog was released in February, the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler has increased by 89 percent and now totals 2,326. Of these, 207 are approximately Earth-size, 680 are super Earth-size, 1,181 are Neptune-size, 203 are Jupiter-size and 55 are larger than Jupiter.

The findings, based on observations conducted May 2009 to September 2010, show a dramatic increase in the numbers of smaller-size planet candidates.

Kepler observed many large planets in small orbits early in its mission, which were reflected in the February data release. Having had more time to observe three transits of planets with longer orbital periods, the new data suggest that planets one to four times the size of Earth may be abundant in the galaxy.

The number of Earth-size, and super Earth-size candidates, has increased by more than 200 and 140 percent since February, respectively.

There are 48 planet candidates in their star's habitable zone. While this is a decrease from the 54 reported in February, the Kepler team has applied a stricter definition of what constitutes a habitable zone in the new catalog, to account for the warming effect of atmospheres, which would move the zone away from the star, out to longer orbital periods.

"The tremendous growth in the number of Earth-size candidates tells us that we're honing in on the planets Kepler was designed to detect: those that are not only Earth-size, but also are potentially habitable," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead at San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif. "The more data we collect, the keener our eye for finding the smallest planets out at longer orbital periods."

NASA's Ames Research Center manages Kepler's ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., managed Kepler mission development.

Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes the Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery Mission and is funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters.

For more information about the Kepler mission and to view the digital press kit, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kepler 

Astronomers Find Fastest Rotating Star

This view shows part of the stellar nursery called the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighbour of the Milky Way. At the centre lies the brilliant star VFTS 102 This view includes both visible-light and infrared images from the Wide Field Imager at the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla and the 4.1-metre infrared VISTA telescope at Paranal. VFTS 102 is the most rapidly rotating star ever found. (Credit: ESO/M.-R. Cioni/VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit)                                                                                               Science Daily  — The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has picked up the fastest rotating star found so far. This massive bright young star lies in our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 light-years from Earth. Astronomers think that it may have had a violent past and has been ejected from a double star system by its exploding companion.

An international team of astronomers has been using ESO's Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, to make a survey of the heaviest and brightest stars in the Tarantula Nebula, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Among the many brilliant stars in this stellar nursery the team has spotted one, called VFTS 102 [1], that is rotating at more than two million kilometres per hour -- more than three hundred times faster than the Sun [2] and very close to the point at which it would be torn apart due to centrifugal forces. VFTS 102 is the fastest rotating star known to date [3].

The astronomers also found that the star, which is around 25 times the mass of the Sun and about one hundred thousand times brighter, was moving through space at a significantly different speed from its neighbours [4].

"The remarkable rotation speed and the unusual motion compared to the surrounding stars led us to wonder if this star had had an unusual early life. We were suspicious." explains Philip Dufton (Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK), lead author of the paper presenting the results.

This difference in speed could imply that VFTS 102 is a runaway star -- a star that has been ejected from a double star system after its companion exploded as a supernova. This idea is supported by two further clues: a pulsar and an associated supernova remnant in its vicinity [5].

The team has developed a possible back story for this very unusual star. It could have started life as one component of a binary star system. If the two stars were close, gas from the companion could have streamed over and in the process the star would have spun faster and faster. This would explain one unusual fact -- why it is rotating so fast. After a short lifetime of about ten million years, the massive companion would have exploded as a supernova -- which could explain the characteristic gas cloud known as a supernova remnant found nearby. The explosion would also have led to the ejection of the star and could explain the third anomaly -- the difference between its speed and that of other stars in the region. As it collapsed, the massive companion would have turned into the pulsar that is observed today, and which completes the solution to the puzzle.

Although the astronomers cannot yet be sure that this is exactly what happened, Dufton concludes "This is a compelling story because it explains each of the unusual features that we've seen. This star is certainly showing us unexpected sides of the short, but dramatic lives of the heaviest stars."

Notes:

[1] The name VFTS102 refers to the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey made using the Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) on ESO's Very Large Telescope.

[2] An aircraft travelling at this speed would take about one minute to circle Earth at the equator.

[3] Some stars end their lives as compact objects such as pulsars (see note [5]), which may spin much more rapidly than VFTS 102, but they are also very much smaller and denser and do not shine by thermonuclear reactions like normal stars.

[4] VFTS 102 is moving at roughly 228 kilometres per second, which is slower than other similar stars in the region by about 40 kilometres per second.

[5] Pulsars are the result of supernovae. The core of the star collapses to a very small size creating a neutron star which spins very rapidly and emits powerful jets of radiation. These jets create a regular "pulse" as seen from Earth as the star rotates around its axis. The associated supernova remnant is a characteristic cloud of gas blown away by the shock wave resulting from the collapse of the star into a neutron star.

More information

This research was presented in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, "The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey: The fastest rotating O-type star and shortest period LMC pulsar -- remnants of a supernova disrupted binary?," by Philip L. Dufton et al.

The team is composed of P.L. Dufton (Astrophysics Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast (ARC/QUB), UK), P.R. Dunstall (ARC/QUB, UK), C.J. Evans (UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh (ROE), UK), I. Brott (University of Vienna, Department of Astronomy, Austria), M. Cantiello (Argelander Institut fur Astronomie der Universitat Bonn, Germany, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, USA), A. de Koter (Astronomical Institute 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), S.E. de Mink (Space Telescope Science Institute, USA), M. Fraser (ARC/QUB, UK), V. Henault-Brunet (Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, ROE, UK), I.D. Howarth (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, UK), N. Langer (Argelander Institut fur Astronomie der Universitat Bonn, Germany), D.J. Lennon (ESA, Space Telescope Science Institute, USA), N. Markova (Institute of Astronomy with NAO, Bulgaria), H. Sana (Astronomical Institute 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), W.D. Taylor (SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, ROE, UK).

Appearance of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere

                   Science Daily— The appearance of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere probably did not occur as a single event but as a long series of starts and stops, according to an international team of researchers investigating rock cores from the FAR DEEP project.

The Fennoscandia Arctic Russia -- Drilling Early Earth Project -- FAR DEEP -- took place during the summer of 2007 near Murmansk in the northwest region of Russia. The project, part of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, drilled a series of shallow, two-inch diameter cores and, by overlapping them, created a record representing stone deposited during the Proterozoic Eon -- 2,500 million to 542 million years ago.

"We've always thought that oxygen came into the atmosphere quickly during an event," said Lee R. Kump, professor and head of geosciences at Penn State. "We are no longer looking for an event. Now we are looking for when and why oxygen became a stable part of the Earth's atmosphere."

The researchers report in the Dec. 1 issue of Science Express that evaluation of these cores and comparison with cores from Gabon previously analyzed by others supports the conclusion that the Great Oxidation Event played out over hundreds of millions of years. Oxygen levels gradually crossed the low atmospheric oxygen threshold for pyrite -- an iron-sulfur mineral -- oxidation by 2,500 million years ago and the loss of any mass-independently fractionated sulfur by 2,400 million years ago. Then oxygen levels rose ever-increasingly through the Paleoproterozoic, achieving about 1 per cent of the present atmospheric level.

"The definition of when an oxygen atmosphere occurred depends on which threshold you are looking for," said Kump. "It could be when pyrite becomes oxidized, when sulfur MIF disappears or when deep crustal oxidation occurs."

When the mass-independent fractionated sulfur disappeared, the air on Earth was still not breathable by animal standards. The air was still unbreathable when red rocks containing iron oxides appeared 2,300 million years ago.

"At about 1 per cent oxygen, the groundwater became strongly oxidized, making it possible for groundwater seeping through rocks to oxidize organic materials," said Kump.

Initially, any oxygen in the atmosphere, produced by the photosynthesis of single-celled organisms, was used up when sulfur, iron and other elements oxidized. When sufficient oxygen accumulates in the atmosphere, it permeates the groundwater and oxidises buried organic material, oxidizing carbon to create carbon dioxide.

The cores from the FAR-DEEP project were compared with the French samples from Gabon using the carbon isotopes 13 and 12 ratios to see if evidence for high rates of oxygen accumulation existed worldwide. Both the FAR-DEEP project's cores and the Francevillian cores show large carbon deposits in the form of fossilized petroleum. Both sets of cores also show similar changes in carbon 13 through time, indicating that the changes in carbon isotopes occurred worldwide and oxygen levels throughout the atmosphere were high.

"Although others have documented huge carbon isotope variations at later times in Earth history associated with stepwise increases in atmospheric oxygen, our results are less equivocal because we have many lines of data all pointing to the same thing," said Kump. "These indications include not only carbon13 isotope profiles in organic mater from two widely separated locations, but also supporting profiles in limestones and no indication that processes occurring since that time have altered the signal."

Working with Kump on this project were Michael A. Arthur, professor of geosciences, Penn State, and Christopher Junium, former graduate student in geosciences Penn State, now at Syracuse University; Alex Brasier, postdoctoral fellow, and Anthony Fallick, professor of isotope geosciences, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre; Victor Melezhik, Aivo Lepland and Alenka E Crne, researchers at the Norwegian Geological Survey; and Genming Luo, State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences.

Blood protein EPO involved in origin and spread of cancer

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have demonstrated that a growth hormone, PDGF-BB, and the blood protein EPO are involved in the development of cancer tumours and that they combine to help the tumours proliferate in the body. These new preclinical findings offer new potential for inhibiting tumour growth and bypassing problems of resistance that exist with many drugs in current use. The results are published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine.

Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones, and is one of the most important research fields in the treatment of such diverse conditions as cancer, metastases, obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic inflammation. The process is also important in healthy individuals for wound healing, the menstrual cycle and other normal processes.

Professor Yihai Cao and his team are researching into angiogenesis and its links to cancer and other diseases, and in the present study show the significant role played by a growth factor, PDGF-BB.

“It’s a member of the PDGF family and significantly contributes to blood vessel development, which is one of the characteristic signs of cancer, says Professor Yihai Cao. Our preclinical findings suggest that PDGF-BB causes systemic effects in the body, which is to say that rather than being active locally it goes into the blood and interferes with the function of several organs so that the entire body is affected.”

Their studies are carried out on mice, and in the present study they were able to show that when the growth factor PDGF-BB binds to its receptors, it stimulates the blood protein EPO (Erythropoietin), which, in turn, controls the production of red blood cells, that provide more oxygen for tumor growth and metastasis.

“EPO has several functions,” says Professor Yihai Cao. “It produces more blood and stimulates angiogenesis, and we have revealed the underlying mechanism. It also stimulates tumour angiogenesis by directly stimulating the proliferation, migration and growth of endothelial cells and their ability to form the so-called epithelial tube. PDGF-BB promotes the stimulation of extramedullary haematopoiesis, enlargement of the liver and spleen, which increases oxygen perfusion and protection against anaemia.”

The introduction of PDGF-BB in mice thus boosts erythropoietin production and the haematopoietic parameters. In addition, EPO may directly act on tumor cells to promote their growth and metastasis.

“We believe that the increase in EPO might be responsible for tumoural resistance to anti-angiogenetic drugs, which only target PDGF ligands. The combination of drugs targeted at both PDGF and EPO has potential superior therapeutic benefits and might circumvent todayäs serious resistance problems,” says Professor Yihai Cao, adding that they will continue to study mouse models and explore opportunities for clinical studies on patients.

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Professor Yihai Cao is also affiliated to Linköping University, Sweden. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Linköping University and the university in Toyama, Japan contributed to the study.

Publication Details:

PDGF-BB modulates hematopoiesis and tumor angiogenesis by inducing erythropoietin production in stromal cells

Nature Medicine AOP 4 December 2011