Science

Frogs Swallow Using Their Eyeballs

Tanya Lewis — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:32:40 -0400

NEW YORK — Neon green, vivid orange, striped and spotted — the frogs are back! An exhibit featuring live frogs from around the world is returning to the American Museum of Natural History here in New York.

The exhibition, entitled "Frogs: A Chorus of Colors," features more than 150 live frogs from approximately 25 species, from the brilliantly colored poison dart frog to the giant African bullfrog. The exhibit opens Saturday (May 18) and runs through Jan. 5, 2014.

"Frogs are so weird that although we might think we know frogs really well, there's just so much about their biology and what they do which is a chance in the exhibition to really surprise people," exhibit curator Christopher J. Raxworthy, a curator in the museum's department of herpetology and faculty member in its Richard Gilder graduate school, told LiveScience at a press preview of the exhibit.

The display introduces visitors to the biology and evolution of these wacky and wonderful amphibians, as well as their importance to ecosystems and the dangers they face. The colorful creatures, which were bred in captivity, peer through glass cases containing recreations of their natural habitats. [Image Gallery: Cute and Colorful Frogs]

Highlights include the pale-blue Mexican dumpy frog from the semiarid subtropical lowland forests in Mexico and the appropriately named tomato frog from the lowlands of Madagascar.

The frogs possess a certain mystique for visitors. People are drawn to the amphibians' bright colors and strange physiques. "I think that, aesthetically, it really gives people a high," Raxworthy said. In addition, there are the quirky things frogs do.

For example, many frogs swallow using their eyeballs. "Once they have prey in their mouth, to help force it down their throat, they actually pull their eyeballs down," Raxworthy said. And here’s another wacky tidbit: African clawed frogs were once used for pregnancy tests.

The exhibit's centerpiece is a large poison-dart-frog vivarium containing more than 80 frogs, including bumblebee poison frogs, Bastimentos strawberry poison frogs and green-leg poison frogs. In the wild, poison dart frogs concentrate the toxins found in ants and other insects they eat into a powerful poison that the Emberá, the indigenous people of northwestern Columbia, rub onto darts for weapons.

Active research in the museum's department of herpetology is also featured in the exhibit. Biologists are still discovering new frog species. More than 6,000 species have been described so far, and that number is increasing rapidly, Raxworthy said.

Nonetheless, frog populations are dwindling around the world, and the exhibit features a short video about some of the threats frogs face. Nearly one-third of amphibians — 88 percent of which are frogs — are threatened, and at least 34 species of frogs (and possibly many more) are extinct. Habitat loss is a major cause, but a mysterious disease caused by the chytrid fungus is also to blame.

"There's lots we don't fully understand, but it’s very sad to see a big chunk of amphibian diversity now also suffering because of this disease," Raxworthy said.

The purpose of the exhibit is to educate people about these fascinating creatures, Raxworthy said. For visitors, he said, "This is a great chance to find out interesting facts about frogs you probably have no idea about. The more you dig, the more weird and wonderful it gets."

Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

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Glow-In-The-Dark Trees Could One Day Replace Street Lamps

Barbara Porada — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:24:21 -0400

“We don’t live in nature any more – we put boxes around it. But now we can actually engineer nature to sustain our needs. All we have to do is design the code and it will self-create. Our visions today – if we can encapsulate them in a seed – [will] grow to actually fulfill that vision.” - Andrew Hessel in a recent ArchDaily interview

“Engineering nature to sustain our needs” is exactly what the Glowing Plant Project aims to do. Synthetic biologist Omri Amirav-Drory, plant scientist Kyle Taylor and project leader Antony Evans are working together to engineer “a glow-in-the-dark plant using synthetic biology techniques that could possibly replace traditional lighting” – and perhaps even create glow-in-the-dark trees that would supplant (pun intended) the common street light.

How is this possible?

Bioluminescence – the production and emission of light by a living organism – is the overarching concept of the Glowing Plant Project, whose team members are essentially injecting flowering plants with genes for bioluminescence.

The approach can be divided into three basic steps: design, print and transform. The design phase consists of creating the DNA sequence of the first glowing plant using a software called Genome Compiler. The print phase includes printing the DNA at Cambrian Genomics, the first hardware/system for laser printing DNA.

Lastly, the transform phase consists of transforming that custom DNA into the target plant in the Glowing Plant Lab in California. The team hopes to then ship glowing plant seeds to those who support their cause, allowing for a more hands-on experience with the new technology and its mass reproduction.

“The Glowing Plant is a symbol of the future, a symbol of sustainability and a symbol to inspire others to create new, living things,” says project leader Antony Evans. Inspired by fireflies and aquatic bioluminescence, Evans calls these methods “off-the-shelf” and old news in the biological world; the ends to which these methods are being utilized, however, might be revolutionary.

Earlier attempts to make a self-sustainable and vibrantly-glowing plant have been rather unsuccessful, but with the necessary funding, Glowing Plant believes it can eventually create a product that will forever change the concept of lighting.

Instead of consuming huge amounts of limited energy and producing as much carbon dioxide as cars, glowing plant technology could produce its own energy and oxygen, impacting the Earth in a positive way. No longer inorganic and inefficient, lights could one day be just as alive as we are, further blurring the line between nature and technology in a new and exciting way.

To read more about the Glowing Plant project and to donate to the cause, click here.

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100% Of Gerbils Sent On Russian Space Flight Die

Dmitry Zaks — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:22:00 -0400

A number of mice and eight gerbils sent into space in a Russian capsule destined to find out how well organisms can withstand extended flights perished during their journey, scientists said Sunday as the month-long mission touched back down on Earth.

Most of the 45 mice sent into orbit -- along with the gerbils and 15 newts -- died on the mission, which nevertheless returned with data that scientists hope will pave the way for a manned flight to Mars.

The animals on board the Bion-M craft died because of equipment failure or due to the stresses of space, scientists said.

The craft itself landed softly early on Sunday with the help of a special parachute system in the Orenburg region about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) southeast of Moscow.

It was also carrying snails, some plants and microflora.

"This is the first time that animals have been put in space on their own for so long," Vladimir Sychov of the Russian Academy of Sciences announced upon the peculiar crew's return to Earth.

But at the end of the experiment, "less than half of the mice made it -- but that was to be expected," Sychov told Russian news agencies.

"Unfortunately, because of equipment failure, we lost all the gerbils."

The TsSKB-Progress space research centre's department head, Valery Abrashkin, said on the day the mission took off in April that the study was aimed at determining how bodies adapt to weightlessness "so that our organisms survive extended flights".

The space adventure has been widely praised by Russian state media as a unique experiment that no other country has yet pulled off.

Russia last sent mice into space in 2007 for a much shorter duration of 12 days.

France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) space centre said 15 of the 45 mice came from a French research lab that is cooperating with the study.

CNES life science department head Guillemette Gauquelin-Koch said the project took "a further decisive step in human adaptation to weightlessness".

Scientists from both countries said the animals were used as it was impossible to conduct the experiment on the humans who are currently operating the International Space Station (ISS).

They added that the mice would have posed a health risk if simply placed on board the ISS for a month.

The experiment's designers said the tests primarily focused on how microgravity impacts the skeletal and nervous systems as well as organisms' muscles and hearts.

The animals were stored inside five special containers that automatically opened after reaching orbit and closed once it was time to return.

Also on board were over two dozen measuring devices and other scientific objects that measured everything from heart rates and blood pressure to radiation levels.

The capsule spun 575 kilometres (357 miles) above Earth.

Officials at France's CNES said a new mission with microorganisms may be launched by Russia next year.

Russia has long set its sights on Mars and is now targeting 2030 as the year in which it could begin creating a base on the Moon for flights to the Red Planet.

But recent problems with its once-vaunted space programme -- including the embarrassing failure of a research satellite that Moscow tried sending up to one of Mars's moons last year -- have threatened Russia's future exploration efforts.

Russia's trials and tribulations are watched closely by other space-faring nations because the Soyuz rocket on which the animals went up represents the world's only manned link to the constantly-staffed ISS.

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Thousands Of British Are Getting Measles Because Parents Didn't Vaccinate Them

Maria Cheng — Mon, 20 May 2013 07:23:00 -0400

LONDON (AP) — More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of a vaccine scare that raised the specter of autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease.

This year, the U.K. has had more than 1,200 cases of measles, after a record number of nearly 2,000 cases last year. The country once recorded only several dozen cases every year. It now ranks second in Europe, behind only Romania.

Last month, emergency vaccination clinics were held every weekend in Wales, the epicenter of the outbreak. Immunization drives have also started elsewhere in the country, with officials aiming to reach 1 million children aged 10 to 16.

"This is the legacy of the Wakefield scare," said Dr. David Elliman, spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, referring to a paper published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues.

That work suggested a link between autism and the combined childhood vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, called the MMR. Several large scientific studies failed to find any connection, the theory was rejected by at least a dozen major U.K. medical groups and the paper was eventually retracted by the journal that published it.

Still, MMR immunization rates plummeted across the U.K. as fearful parents abandoned the vaccine — from rates over 90 percent to 54 percent.

Nearly 15 years later, the rumors about MMR are still having an impact. Now there's "this group of older children who have never been immunized who are a large pool of infections," Elliman said.

The majority of those getting sick in the U.K. — including a significant number of older children and teens — had never been vaccinated. Almost 20 of the more than 100 seriously ill children have been hospitalized and 15 have suffered complications including pneumonia and meningitis. One adult with measles has died, though it's unclear if it was the disease that killed him.

The first measles vaccines were introduced in the 1960s, which dramatically cut cases of the rash-causing illness. Since 2001, measles deaths have dropped by about 70 percent worldwide; Cambodia recently marked more than a year without a single case.

Globally, though, measles is still one of the leading causes of death in children under 5 and kills more than 150,000 people every year, mostly in developing countries. Measles is highly contagious and is spread by coughing, sneezing and close personal contact with infected people; symptoms include a fever, cough, and a rash on the face.

Across the U.K., about 90 percent of children under 5 are vaccinated against measles and have received the necessary two doses of the vaccine. But among children now aged 10 to 16, the vaccination rate is slightly below 50 percent in some regions.

To stop measles outbreaks, more than 95 percent of children need to be fully immunized. In some parts of the U.K., the rate is still below 80 percent.

Unlike in the United States., where most states require children to be vaccinated against measles before starting school, no such regulations exist in Britain. Parents are advised to have their children immunized, but Britain's Department of Health said it had no plans to consider introducing mandatory vaccination.

Last year, there were 55 reported cases of measles in the United States, where the measles vaccination rate is above 90 percent. So far this year, there have been 22 cases, including three that were traced to Britain. In previous years, the U.K. has sometimes exported more cases of measles to the U.S. than some countries in Africa.

Portia Ncube, a health worker at an East London clinic, said the struggle to convince parents to get the MMR shot is being helped by the measles epidemic in Wales.

"They see what's happening in Wales so some of them are now sensible enough to come in and get their children vaccinated," she said.

Clinic patient Ellen Christensen, mother of an infant son, acknowledged she had previously had some "irrational qualms" about the MMR vaccine.

"But after reading more about it, I know now that immunization is not only good for your own child, it's good for everyone," she said.

___

Online:

Public Health England's Measles website:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/Measles/

AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.

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Unreal Footage Of The Tornadoes That Swept Through The Midwest On Sunday

Michael Kelley — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:01:00 -0400

At least one person died and 21 were injured in Oklahoma on Sunday as a massive storm front hammered the Midwest with fist-sized hail, blinding rain, and as many as 26 tornadoes.

Twisters were spotted in parts of Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and local news reports. The day's first tornado touched down near Wichita, Kan. at about 16:45 p.m. EDT.

Here's a veteran storm chaser in Kansas watching a tornado form and confirming when it touches down:

This one of amateur chasers in Edmond, Okla., is just insane:

Chris Francescani of Reuters notes that "hail stones, some as large as baseballs, were reported from Georgia to Minnesota," and the projectiles knocked out power for thousands.

Carl Brewer, the mayor of Wichita, Kan. told Fox News that golf ball-sized hail ripped through the sides of houses in addition to breaking windows and damaging cars in town.

"That alone, and the rain, actually just really did a number on the city," he said. "It was so bad you think a tornado came through."

Fox News reported that one person was killed in Shawnee, Okla., a town east of Oklahoma City where houses were destroyed by a half-mile wide twister.

Check out how massive and powerful this thing is:

Here's one example of the aftermath in Shawnee:

Here's a picture of a 7-year-old girl and her grandfather in the town on Dale, Okla., about 10 miles northwest of Shawnee, waiting as search and rescue efforts take place in their neighborhood.

The extreme weather is expected to continue on Monday, according to the NOAA.

Let's check out that lightning one more time:

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Astronaut Chris Hadfield Did Some Pretty Weird Stuff To Get Attention In Space

Geoffrey Ingersoll — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:26:00 -0400

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who just returned from five months in orbit, did some strange (and some very cool) things to get attention while he was floating above us all.

But that's just the way it is for space these days: unless you're a CG-animated robot or an earth-killing asteroid in the world of celluloid (movies, folks), you're just not going to get any play.

From a Time write up on Hadfield:

Quick: How many people are currently aboard the International Space Station? Anybody? How many people even knew there was an International Space Station?

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Time continued:

Well there is one, it’s an awfully cool machine and thanks to Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, a lot more people now know just how cool.

Hadfield himself is a pretty cool dude. He was an ace pilot in the Canadian Armed Forces. Flew F-18s ... on intercept missions for NORAD. He was the first jet that intercepted the Russian Tupalev bomber during bilateral war games.

Pretty smart too. Bachelor's in mechanical engineering. Masters in aviation systems. And he's sung a now-David Bowie-endorsed version of "Major Tom" while floating around in space.

Upon hearing Hadfield's rendition, Bowie said, "It’s possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created.”

Simply boss.

So we felt it necessary here at Business Insider to sort of curate some of his best videos.

Without further ado — here's "How you puke in space":

Incredible Canadian space food:

How to take care of a space station spill:

How Astronauts cry in space:

Brushing teeth in space:

Preparing zero-g treats:

Space shots:

Finally, Space Oddity:

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Summer Was The Ancient Egyptian Sex Season

Owen Jarus — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:15:00 -0400

The peak period for baby-making sex in ancient Egypt was in July and August, when the weather was at its hottest.

Researchers made this discovery at a cemetery in the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt whose burials date back around 1,800 years. The oasis is located about 450 miles (720 kilometers) southwest of Cairo.

The people buried in the cemetery lived in the ancient town of Kellis, with a population of at least several thousand. These people lived at a time when the Roman Empire controlled Egypt, when Christianity was spreading but also when traditional Egyptian religious beliefs were still strong.

So far, researchers have uncovered 765 graves, including the remains of 124 individuals that date to between 18 weeks and 45 weeks after conception.

The excellent preservation let researchers date the age of the remains at death.

The researchers could also pinpoint month of death, as the graves were oriented toward the rising sun, something that changes predictably throughout the year.

[See Images of the Ancient Egypt Cemetery]

The results, combined with other information, suggested the peak period for births at the site was in March and April, and the peak period for conceptions was in July and August, when temperatures at the Dakhleh Oasis can easily reach more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).

The peak period for the death of women of childbearing age was also in March and April (exactly mirroring the births), indicating that a substantial number of women died in childbirth.

Although attempts have been made in the past to piece together ancient Egyptian birth patterns using census records, researchers say this is the first time that these patterns have been determined by looking at burials.

"No one has ever looked at it using the actual individuals themselves, the biological aspects of it," said lead researcher Lana Williams, a professor at the University of Central Florida, in an interview with LiveScience.

The team presented their research recently at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Honolulu.

Sex in the summer

Conception didn't peak in summer months for other ancient Mediterranean cultures, Williams noted; the hot weather is thought to have lowered sexual libido and possibly sperm count.

In ancient Egypt, however, the new findings indicate that at Kellis conceptions increased by more than 20 percent above the site's annual average.

A summer baby-making boon in ancient Egypt may have been due to traditional beliefs regarding fertility and the Nile flood. The people who lived at the Dakhleh Oasis in ancient times believed that the Nile River was the source of their water and that the flooding of the Nile, which takes place in the summer, was key to the fertility of their land.

"Even though this was a Christian community, we know that they were still practicing, or having these social beliefs of, fertility being at its highest in the months of July and August," Williams said. "We have local temple reliefs that show this, the annual inundation of the Nile being celebrated at Dakhleh."

She added that the annual flood of the Nile River was a pivotal event throughout Egyptian history. "This was a very strong aspect of social beliefs of fertility," she said. "The Nile is the gift to Egypt — without it, there's really no way that this civilization could have survived through 3,000 years of history."

These patterns of conceptions and births would have likely continued back further into ancient times and occurred at other Egyptian sites as well, said Williams. In fact, they appear to have also continued into relatively modern times.

"Interestingly, all the way up into the 1920s and 1930s, we still see this maxima in birth taking place at the same season [around March and April]," Williams said in regards to birth records from the World Health Organization that looked at rural Egypt.

Sexual prohibitions

While the summer was prime time for ancient Egyptian baby-making, the period around January seems to have been a low point, when conception fell to 20 percent below the site's annual average.

The baby dip was likely due to the new religion, Christianity, which in ancient times called for prohibitions on sex during certain periods, such as during Advent and Lent.

Ancient texts indicate that early Egyptian Christians were, ideally, supposed to avoid intercourse "on Saturday, on Sunday, on Wednesday, and on Friday, in the 40 days of Lent and before the other feasts at which they might take the Eucharist," writes Peter Brown, a professor of classics at Princeton University, in his book "The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity" (Columbia University Press, 2008 edition).

The people of Kellis may not have been as strict as these texts recommend, but conception did fall to a low point around January, a time close to both Advent and Lent, Williams pointed out.

Ancient contraceptives

The patterns also suggest some form of ancient contraceptives were in use. [The History & Future of Birth Control: 10 Contraceptives]

"If you have this much of a tightly patterned conception, there has to be some form of contraception that was taking place," Williams said, noting that ancient Egyptian medical texts tell of several methods that they believed acted to prevent pregnancy.

For instance, contraceptive recipes from the Kahun Medical Papyrus, dating back about 3,800 years, included crocodile dung and honey in their ingredients.

It isn’t clear from the surviving papyrus exactly how they were to be inserted into the body. One fragment reads that for honey one was to "sprinkle [it] over her womb, this to be done on natron bed," (translation by Stephen Quirke).

Williams said that the prospect of having to take dung filled medicine, and having sex with it in you, probably discouraged intercourse. "By aversion alone, it would probably work for contraception," Williams said.

"The interesting thing is when you start to look at the ingredients, the high acid content that would be in crocodile dung, the anti-bacterial qualities of honey, it probably would take down the possibility of pregnancy by acting as a spermicide," said Williams, adding that it would not have been as effective as modern-day contraceptives.

Avoiding the taxman

When the team compared their research results with Roman census records, they found that the records were a bit off, indicating May and June as the time of maximum births.

As the census records were tied to taxation, the people living in Roman-controlled Egypt seem to have put off recording them.

"We don't want to pay our taxes until the last moment, so let's not do it, let's put off filing that document until we have to," said Williams, speculating on why they would have put off recording births. For the ancient Egyptians living under Roman rule, it seems sex, birth, death and taxes were all linked together.

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PROFESSOR: Here's Why Insects Won't Solve World Hunger

Robert Ferris — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:48:00 -0400

A new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said that eating insects, known as entomophagy, can reduce world hunger.

Not everyone agrees: Insect eater and researcher Tom Turpin, from Purdue University says that while insects can tasty they won't make a dent in world hunger.

"I think the issue is not whether or not we would be willing to eat them, but whether we could produce enough to make a dent in world hunger," Turpin said. "We have spent thousands of years trying to master crop production, master animal husbandry, to produce the volume that we need to rely on something as a food source."

Apart from the insects grown for fishing bait, pollinating crops, and zoos, Turpin has not seen any commercial production of insects and nothing on the scale large enough to feed the world population.

"It doesn't mean would couldn't do it, but we haven't spent the time culturing insects in the way we have cultured plants and animals for that food purpose," he said.

Insect eating also suffers from a serious image issue in Europe and the United States, and some Western attitudes toward insects have spread to other cultures, sometimes through Christian missionaries or other means.

People also often change their eating habits throughout their lives, especially as they become wealthier.

"It's one of those things where people say, 'oh I always had to eat that growing up,'" Turpin said. "Even in China, where larvae and pupae are commonly eaten, when some people become wealthier they seem less likely to eat those. So even in cultures that accept it, sometimes we see a change based on social status."

The authors of the UN report theorize that insects never caught on as a food source or agricultural product because domesticated meat sources like cattle were just too useful — they also provided milk and leather for clothing in colder climates.

Most insect consumption occurs in warmer climates, since tropical insects tend to be larger, more plentiful, and available year-round.

Environmental threats to insect populations around the world may yet be the biggest obstacle to worldwide insect-eating. Collapsing wild bee populations and evidence of declines in other insect numbers may turn what is now a plentiful resource into a rare delicacy.

But they are delicious.

Beetles are the most popular six-legged snack, followed by caterpillars, then bees, wasps, and ants. People are also known to grub on grasshoppers, cicadas, termites, dragonflies, and others.

Turpin estimates that he has eaten at least 40 different species of insects on his travels around the world and has even dished them up at the annual Bug Bowl he co-founded at Purdue.

"When we do our demos, we cook mealworms in some kind of cooking oil or even butter, and you just stir fry them and they taste a little bit like popcorn," Turpin told Business Insider. "We mix them with vegetables and make a sort of chop suey sort of thing; we make what we call chocolate chirpy chip cookies, where we substitute cricket bits for some of the chocolate chips."

It may sound gross, but insects often blend well into recipes where you might otherwise use meat, Turpin said. "If you use insects in a recipe, whatever it is, they're going to taste mostly like whatever spices you are using in the recipe, just like a lot of meat or vegetables."

In one very elite cultural institution in Europe and America, insect-based dishes are starting to catch on: the high-end restaurant.

"Eating insects to the North Americans and Europeans could become more like eating some types of mushrooms, it becomes a kind of specialty food item," Turpin said. "So if you go to a high-end restaurant, you can eat some things that you normally wouldn't find in a grocery store or wouldn't normally include in your diet. So I actually think that is will fit into that genre of food, a not readily available everyday food, but more of a specialty or unique food item."

SEE ALSO: 11 Delicious Insect Dishes

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What New York City Would Look Like On Different Planets

Dina Spector — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:15:00 -0400

Graphic designer Nickolay Lamm, who previously showed us what America would like under 25 feet of seawater, has a new project that imagines New York City with the atmospheres of different planets in our solar system.

The illustrations, commissioned by StorageFront.com, were made with the help of Astrobiologist M. Browning Vogel, who worked at NASA Ames Research Center for a five years, and gave Lamm the descriptions for each planet.

In an artist's statement, Lamm said the images were inspired by photographs of Mount Sharp, a 3.4-mile-high peak at the center of Mars' Gale crater.

The drawings should serve as a wake-up call to people who take Earth's life-giving resources for granted.

Lamm compares humans to ants living on an enclosed farm. "If these ants ventured outside their ant farm, they'd realize just how uninhabitable other places are and appreciate their own home much more," he told us via email.

Meanwhile, scientists continue to shop for Earth replacements while developing a plan to send the first humans Mars.

This is Earth. Everything looks normal around the NYC skyline so far.

Here is New York City with the thin layer of gas, mostly consisting of hydrogen, that makes up Mercury's atmosphere. The transparent atmosphere shows the darkness of space and the radiance of the nearby sun.

Here is New York City with the atmosphere of Venus. Carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid clouds create an envelope of yellowish, hot air that blocks the NYC skyline and sun. The landscape is covered by craters, lava, sulfurous dust and other feature created by Venus' volcanoes.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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This Week's Super Active Sun Could Disrupt Cell Phone, Radio, And GPS Communications

Samantha-Rae Tuthill — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:40:00 -0400

This week has seen the most active solar flares in this sun cycle, which began in 2008 and will last until 2019.

Four high-strength flares occurred May 13 into May 14.

"Basically, this is as busy as the Sun has been in a 24-36 hour period since 2004," said AccuWeather.com Astronomer Mark Paquette.

Paquette used information researched by Daniel Vogler, co-director of the AccuWeather Astronomy Facebook page.

Using data dating back to 1992, Paquette found only one other instance with as much sunspot activity in such a short amount of time.

"Sunspot AR649, July 15-17, 2004, unleashed five X[-strength] flares," he said. "So what we are witnessing with sunspot AR1748 is pretty rare."

Solar flares are measured on a scale of intensity ranging from A, B, M, C to X. The X-strength flares, the level the recent solar activity has been categorized as, are the highest strength.

AccuWeather astronomer Hunter Outten said that these impressive flares have been responsible for disrupting a variety of satellite communications, even causing some blackouts that have lasted from nine to 25 minutes. Cell phones, radios and GPS devices can all be affected by solar flare radiation.

The flares earlier this week have not been Earth directed, so only fringe affects have been making their way to the planet. When a solar flare occurs, radiation effects can be felt on Earth in as little as an hour with disruptions to communication technology. Earth-directed flares can cause charged particles in the atmosphere that can create auroras 24 to 36 hours after the blast.

Outten said that as the Earth revolves around the Sun it could move into a better position to face the sun spot. If a flare directed at Earth occurs while the planet is in the right path, "one heck of an aurora" could be seen.

Billions of protons have slammed into the planet as a result of the solar storms. A mid-range flare with a long duration occurred the morning of May 17, adding to the impacts on Earth from the activity. Outten is still going through data to see what kind of impact this could have on Earth.

Paquette said that the Sun could be increasingly active throughout the summer, as the peak of this sun cycle is likely nearing. While it may not be as active as the peaks of previous sun cycles, it will certainly be an increase in the activity that has occurred over the past few years.

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These Fascinating Statistics Will Make You The Best-Informed Powerball Jackpot Player In America

Walter Hickey — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:24:00 -0400

The Powerball jackpot has hit $600 million, passing the point where people who don't typically play the lottery decide to jump in, shell out a few dollars, and try their luck on an infinitesimally small opportunity to join the 1%

One of the most interesting ways to look at this is through the statistical concept of expected value. How much is it worth to play, given the estimated winnings and initial up front costs?

If we multiply the probability and payout of each possible prize, and sum that for all events, we get the expected value of playing the game.

When we look at a very basic expected value calculation for the Powerball lottery, we notice that playing the game is expected to be worth $1.78, given an estimated $3.78 payout on each ticket and a $2.00 investment:

However, there are a couple things to keep in mind. First, notice that 90% of the expected value is derived from the outrageously high jackpot.

Next, there are a few assumptions in this estimate that don't mimic reality.

The estimate assumes that there is only one jackpot winner. When there is more than one, the winnings are split.
The estimate assumes you take $600 million in the installment plan rather than $376.9 million up-front check all at once.
The estimate assumes there aren't taxes on the winnings. There absolutely are.

So let's dissect these probabilities.

The first one — the multiple winners problem — is by far the most interesting.

When there is more than one winner, the value of the jackpot decreases because the winnings are split:

The probability there is more than one winner is directly related to the number of tickets in play. The more tickets that are in play, the more winners that are likely.

Here's how were able to calculate the probability of the number of jackpot winners. We use the binomial distribution:

Where 'n' is the number of people playing in the lottery

And 'k' is the number of winners

While 'p' is the probability of winning the jackpot:

The probability 'n' out of 'k' people win =

P(n,k,p) = (n!)/[k!(n-k)!] x p^k x (1-p)^n-k

If that's too complicated, don't worry. Here's the result for various values of the number of winners (k) at various quantities of tickets (n) sold:

Here's a better way to look at it. You'll notice that it's very likely as more and more tickets are sold that there is more than one winner:

So it's really important that we account for this when calculating expected value. When 3,000 tickets are sold every minute, the chances for multiple winners are quite good and make a major impact on expected value.

The more tickets that are sold, the higher the probability of multiple winners.

The higher the probability of multiple winners, the higher the probability of a jackpot split.

The higher the probability of a jackpot split, the lower the expected value of the jackpot for an individual ticket holder.

Since almost the entire expected value is derived from the jackpot, splitting the jackpot multiple ways is a big issue.

Here's what the expected value of playing Powerball looks like as the number of tickets sold rises:

This decline is the direct result of a rising probability of a winnings split. Notice how at 1 player, the expected value is equal to our original calculation.

That's because it assumes there is no possibility of multiple winners at that point.

It's the idea that a man walks up to you, offers you these odds, and you get the payout.

As the number of players rise, the probability a winner will have to share their winnings rises.

So depending on how many people participate in the lottery, you can find out your expected winnings.

Now let's look at the expected value of a lottery ticket given that there's the possibility for multiple winners and you decide to take all the money up front — a $378.9 million check instead of $600 million over time. It's potentially split between winners.

Here's how that looks:

Once more than 200,000,000 tickets get sold, it's game over. Assuming a split check taken immediately, you're cooked once more than 200 million tickets are sold.

Finally, we've got to incorporate the tax man's impact on your winnings. As a warning, it's not going to be pretty.

Assuming an instantaneously awarded check for winnings, you're going to be in the top bracket no matter what. Even assuming that the person makes no money, applying the marginal tax rate to the check — all while assuming multiple winners are possible — makes this picture look even worse:

So what's the moral of the story?

Buying a Powerball ticket as an investment makes sense, as long as you only look at the simple case.

When you analyze it deeply, you'll see that even after you account for multiple winners and potential split jackpots, it's still worth it, just not as drastically.

But once you consider taking all the money up front rather than the annuity, you're going to see a problem. After 200 million bought tickets, you get a negative expected value, and it stops being worth it.

Then, after you consider the federal government fleecing you with a 39.6% top tax rate — welcome to the 1%, we hope you enjoyed your stay — it's pretty obviously not worth it.

And we didn't even look at state income taxes.

So is it worth it to pay the lottery? That depends. If it's worth it to spend $2 on several days of wishful thinking, there's nothing stopping you from playing. While it's rarely profitable overall, it's fun to gamble, that's why people do it.

But don't look to math for a thumbs up.

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Now You Can 3D Print Your Own Invisibility Cloak

Charles Q. Choi — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Invisibility cloaks made of plastic can now be created at home using 3D printers, researchers show.

The first clues that cloaking devices might one day become more than science fiction, a la "Star Trek" began emerging seven or so years ago.

Since then researchers have made such cloaks a reality by smoothly guiding rays of electromagnetic radiation such as microwave beams completely around objects so they proceed along their original trajectory as if nothing were there.

The first working invisibility cloaks were demonstrated using complex lab experiments. They can now, in principle, get made at home using 3D printers.

"I would argue that essentially anyone who can spend a couple thousand dollars on a non-industry- grade 3D printer can literally make a plastic cloak overnight," said researcher Yaroslav Urzhumov, an electrical engineer at Duke University.

A 3D printer lays down thin layers of material much like ordinary printers, except it deposits layers on top of layers to create 3D objects. Increasingly, they are being used to make items out of plastic, metal, glass, ceramic, and even sugar and mashed potatoes.

Urzhumov said creating an invisibility cloak using a 3D printer was easy and relatively inexpensive. For instance, printers can make ones about 1 inch thick (3 centimeters) and 8 inches wide (20 cm) resembling Frisbees made of Swiss cheese.

Previous invisibility cloaks all included a fair amount of metal, "but with these new cloaks, no metal is involved," Urzhumov told TechNewsDaily. "This makes them easier to fabricate and lighter. Also, when a light wave hits a structure containing a lot of metal, it is attenuated, and the only way to have a cloak without attenuation is to get rid of these metals. Now we know it is possible to make microwave cloaks entirely out of nonmetallic materials, which is very exciting."

The cloaks have open spots in their centers in which to place items up to 5.5 inches wide (14 cm). When microwaves are beamed at those objects from the side, the cloaks make it look as if the items are not there.

"A metal cylinder that would normally reflect a lot of microwave radiation can, once placed in the cloak, become transparent to microwaves," Urzhumov said.

Cloaks that make objects invisible to microwaves could have military and civilian applications.

"If you want to eliminate obstacles such as pillars or small buildings to microwave antennas, you could use these cloaks, which could be helpful for communications and for radar," Urzhumov said.

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Astronaut From Space Station Feels Dizzy, Horrible, And Old Now That He's Back On Earth

Irene Klotz, Reuters — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:46:44 -0400

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Back on Earth, Canadian astronaut and cyberspace tweeter Chris Hadfield is getting a rough re-introduction to gravity after a five-month stint aboard the International Space Station, the former commander told reporters during a video webcast from Houston.

Hadfield became a social media rock star with his zero-gravity version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and a continuous stream of commentary on Twitter about his life in orbit. But living without gravity for five months has left him feeling dizzy, weak and prematurely aged. A veteran of three space flights, he is wearing a pressure suit under his clothes to help his circulation as his body re-adapts to getting blood back to his brain.

"Without the constant pull-down of gravity, your body gets a whole new normal, and my body was quite happy living in space without gravity," Hadfield, 53, said in a video conference call with Canadian reporters on Thursday, three days after returning to Earth.

The video conference was posted on the Canadian Space Agency's UStream channel.

"Right after I landed I could feel the weight of my lips and tongue ... I hadn't realized that I had learned to talk with a weightless tongue," he said.

He is suffering overall body soreness, particularly in his neck and back which are again having to support his head after months in weightlessness.

"It feels like I played full-contact hockey, but it's getting better by the hour," Hadfield said. "The subtle things and the big things are taking some re-adaptation to get used to and they are coming back one by one."

Hadfield, who is the first from Canada to command a space station crew, NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko landed in Kazakhstan on Monday. He and Marshburn were then flown to Houston to begin rehabilitation.

As a departing finale Hadfield created a music video rendering of Bowie's classic "Space Oddity," which as of Friday had 13 million hits on YouTube.

Hadfield, who is the lead singer and bass guitarist in the all-astronaut rock band Max Q, said it is too early to think about what he will do next.

"For now, I'm still trying to stand up straight. I have to sit down in the shower so I don't faint and fall down, and I don't have calluses on the bottom of my feet yet, so I'm walking around like I walked on hot coals," he said.

It usually takes about three weeks until a returning astronaut can return to driving, according to the Canadian Space Agency.

"We're sort of tottering around like two old duffers in an old folks home," Hadfield said, referring to his crew mate Marshburn.

Hadfield's orbital odyssey ended with a parachute descent of their Soyuz space capsule onto the steppes of Kazakhstan.

"We hit the Earth just like a car crash, like we expected," Hadfield said. "There was enough wind so that we rolled up on our side. I was the guy hanging from the ceiling."

"Our first true sense of being home was a window full of the dirt of the Earth and the smell of spring and the growing grasses in Kazakhstan wafting in through the open hatch," he said.

(Editing by David Adams and Jackie Frank)

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The 5 Ways We Learn Languages — And Which Is Best For You

Charlotte Bowen — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:52:00 -0400

Have you ever been to a place where you didn’t know the language?

Have you ever wanted to learn a language, but thought the process is too difficult, or takes too long?

Sometimes it seems as if there are as many language learning methods as there are language learners, or conversely that there is only “One True Way” to learn a language.

The reality lies somewhere in the middle.

Let’s examine the 5 ways people generally learn languages.

The vocabulary-based approach stresses repetition.

The major players:

Rosetta Stone and similar language-learning software.

The method:

This method of learning claims to emulate the way we learned language as children – by associating words in the target language (the language you want to learn) with pictures or the objects they represent. Think, for example, of a three-year-old with a “see-and-say.”

It stresses vocabulary acquisition by presenting the user with vocabulary words and associated pictures, and encouraging repetition of that vocabulary. Grammar rules are not generally taught as such, but are picked up by osmosis.

The advantages:

Vocabulary acquisition is generally rapid, at least at first. Pictures help visual learners memorize the vocabulary. Repetition is stressed.

The disadvantages:

Vocabulary taught is oftentimes not useful for travelers. Leaves students prone to Tarzan Disease (“Me Tarzan, you…”) because of the lack of emphasis on grammar.

Double translation will have you befriending your dictionary.

The major players:

Just about anyone who learned a language before 1900.

The method:

Step 1: Acquire a book in the target language.

Step 2: Acquire an English-target language dictionary.

Step 3: Use the dictionary to decipher the book. Write down your translation.

Step 4: Use the dictionary to translate your translation back into the target language. (Hence the term “double translation.”)

Step 5: Check the re-translated translation against the original book, rinse, repeat.

The advantages:

Useful for languages (e.g. Latin) that the student is only ever going to read, not speak. Introduces student to real texts in the target language.

The disadvantages:

Very difficult and ponderous way to learn. Doesn’t teach listening, speaking, or writing. Reliant on the accuracy of the student’s dictionary.

The grammar-based approach requires diligence.

The major players:

Most “teach yourself” books. Older textbooks.

The method:

These books combine a small amount of vocabulary at the beginning of the lesson with a heaping dose of grammar rules, which must be memorized. The vocabulary is re-combined in several different ways to highlight the grammar points.

Subsequent lessons build on the vocabulary learned in previous lessons and introduce new grammar. Emphasis is placed on reading and writing in the target language.

The advantages:

Once the rules of grammar are learned, it becomes quite easy to integrate and correctly use new vocabulary.

The disadvantages:

Requires lots of rote memorization of grammar rules. Can be frustrating, especially at first. Student is left with very little vocabulary that he or she can begin using straight away.

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Inspiring Before-And-After Weight Loss Pictures

Dina Spector — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:20:00 -0400

Last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie confirmed that he had lap band stomach surgery in February to lose weight.

Christie is not alone in his struggle to lose weight through diet and exercise.

So he, and many others, have turned to surgical options. The lap band is one of the fastest-growing weight-loss surgeries, in large part because it is one of the least invasive.

Lap band involves placing a plastic band around the upper part of the stomach to make it smaller, which both reduces appetite and limits the amount of food you can eat.

As with any medical procedure, patients should be aware of the risks associated with lap band surgery before getting on the operating table.

Lap Band Talk forum gives patients who have undergone the life-changing surgery a way to connect and share their stories.

A section devoted to before-and-after pictures allows men and women to post their progress. According to the manufacturer of LAP-BAND, after surgery patients can lose 1.5 to 2 pounds per week and drop about half of their excess weight within the first year.

Many forum users have lost more than 100 pounds in the years after surgery.

Weight lost: 135 pounds

Weight lost: 147

Weight lost: 92 pounds

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Grapefruit-Sized Hail Smashed Down On Texas In Deadly Storm

Dina Spector — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:38:00 -0400

On Wednesday night, hail the size of grapefruits rained down on Granbury, Texas, right before as many as three tornadoes rolled through the town, resulting in at least six confirmed deaths, CBS Local reports.

Here's a picture posted by Twitter user Patrick Vondra:

@corbydavidson they had this in granbury, I hope you have your 7 iron ready twitter.com/Vondaddy/statu…
— Patrick Vondra (@Vondaddy) May 16, 2013

And here's video of the hail storm from that evening:

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The Craziest Fad Diets Of All Time

Kevin Aeh — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:53:00 -0400

Swimsuit season is right around the corner, which means the pressure to get the "perfect" bod is on — however you define it.

Of course, the combo of a healthy diet and exercise is the best way to go, but that knowledge wasn't always common back in the day — which is why we have such a long and storied history of completely bonkers fad diets.

Looking back at these eating regimens through the ages, we were struck by one indelible fact: People have done some really crazy stuff in the name of weight loss.

How crazy? Well, there was a diet consisting completely of cabbage soup (bet those participants smelled quite fragrant), and don't even get us started on the cigarette diet.

So, while we may know better now, let's take a walk down memory lane and sneak a peek at some of the most popular diet crazes from days of yore.

We think it goes without saying that, barring a few notable exceptions, you probably shouldn't try these at home, mmkay?

1087: The Liquid Diet

Historians credit William the Conqueror as the inventor of the first fad diet.

Legend has it that the English king became too heavy to ride his horse, so he went on an all-liquid diet.

His liquid of choice?

Liquor.

The diet didn’t exactly work, and he actually died later that year after falling off the poor, probably exhausted horse.

1820: The Vinegar Diet

“Roses are red, violets are blue. Drink lots of vinegar and you’ll feel ew.”

That could've been prose by English poet Lord Byron. He regularly cleansed his body by drinking lots of vinegar and water.

It’s no wonder he felt lighter after this practice; side effects include vomiting and diarrhea.

These days, dieters use apple cider vinegar as a weight loss tool. It reportedly works if you take a couple of tablespoons of the stuff 30 minutes before a meal.

Devotees say you’ll feel full and will eat less.

We say fine — as long as it's not your entire meal.

1863: The Banting Diet

We all think of Dr. Atkins as the inventor of the low-carb diet, but that title actually belongs to Englishman William Banting.

He lost 50 pounds (we’re talking weight, not British currency here) by cutting bread, butter, milk, and potatoes out of his diet and adding more meat.

He wrote a pamphlet, “Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public,” about the experience.

It became so popular that “banting” became a new term for dieting.

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Business Insider — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:04:00 -0400

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Pot Smokers Are Skinnier

Jennifer Welsh — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:20:00 -0400

A new study suggests that people who regularly smoke weed are skinnier than the general population.

The study analyzed data from more than 4,500 adult Americans — 579 of whom were current marijuana smokers, meaning they had smoked in the last month. About 2,000 had used marijuana in the past, while another 2,000 had never used the drug.

They studied their body's response to eating sugars: their levels of the hormone insulin and their blood sugar levels while they hadn't eaten in nine hours, and after eating sugar.

Not only are pot users skinnier, but their body has a healthier response to sugar.

When we eat sugar, our bodies respond by releasing the hormone insulin. Insulin primes our cells to absorb the sugar and turn it into storable starches, so it can be used at a later time.

When we take in too many simple sugars over a lifetime this system can go haywire, and our cells stop reacting to insulin, a syndrome called insulin resistance, a precursor to type-two diabetes.

The study, published May 15 in The American Journal Of Medicine, shows that people who had smoke marijuana in the past month have a healthier response to insulin than the average person.

Their insulin levels of recent pot-smokers were lower during fasting and they had a lower insulin resistance score. They also had more "good" cholesterol and smaller waists.

This could mean they are less likely to be obese, at a lower risk for heart disease, less likely to develop insulin resistance, and less likely to develop diabetes.

This sounds a little backwards, since potheads are known to get the "munchies" and eat nonstop. Studies have found that when people smoke marijuana, they take in an average of 600 calories more.

The link between increased appetite and food intake, but healthier metabolic reaction to sugars, is still a mystery.

We also can't say for sure that pot smoking leads to better health outcomes, only that the traits the researchers saw in pot smokers — lower insulin resistance scores and smaller waist circumference — are associated with lower health risks.

Study researcher Hannah Buettner, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explained what they know to Business Insider:

It seems highly unlikely that eating more would lead to better measures of blood sugar control; rather, we hypothesize that the increased appetite and better metabolic profile found in marijuana users could both be caused by the interplay of the cannabinoids – the active ingredients in marijuana – with the body’s native endocannabinoid system, which is involved in regulation of appetite, and may also help regulation of energy in the peripheral system (i.e., this system affects how and where energy is stored in the body). However, with the current evidence available, exactly how the consumption of exogenous cannabinoids may affect these regulatory system is unclear.

A study from March 2012, published in the journal Phytomedicine, show that when obese rats are dosed with the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol they lose weight.

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Unbelievable Pictures Of Wildlife From The National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

Kamelia Angelova — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:14:36 -0400

The 25th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is currently accepting submissions of photos, capturing travel portraits, outdoor scenes, spontaneous moments, and places.

Amateur and professional photographers can submit their best pictures until June 30.

National Geographic was kind to share with us some of the recent entries, which feature stunning scenes of wildlife.

Osprey taking off from his perch.

"I clicked this photo as the Osprey was taking off from his perch."

Photo and caption by Mark Gottlieb/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

Big Major Cay's pigs swimming in the clear, turquoise waters of the Bahamas.

"This is one of the Big Major Cay's pigs swimming in the clear, turquoise waters of the Bahamas. Pigs are great swimmers!"

Photo and caption by Paul Lee/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

An alligator and turtles together in a pond.

"I have seen alligators and turtles together in ponds before, but never like this! I was at Bluebill Pond in Harris Neck NWR when I saw what I thought was an alligator sunning itself on a stump. As I got closer I realized that it was actually perched on the back of a turtle! I wish I had been there to witness how this surprising esprit de corps had came to pass!"

Photo and caption by Mary Ellen Urbanski/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

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