Experts in Bonn to detail how science can help people mitigate or adapt to major global human-induced water system changes. A suite of disquieting global phenomena have given rise to the “Anthropocene,” a term coined for a new geologic epoch characterized by humanity’s growing dominance of the Earth’s environment and a planetary transformation as profound as the last epoch-defining event — the retreat of the glaciers 11,500 years ago.And in Bonn, Germany May 21-24, world experts will experts will focus on how to mitigate key factors contributing to extreme damage to the global water system being caused while adapting to the new reality.”The list of human activities and their impact on the water systems of Planet Earth is long and important,” Anik Bhaduri, Executive Officer of the Global Water System Project (GWSP). “We have altered the Earth’s climatology and chemistry, its snow cover, permafrost, sea and glacial ice extent and ocean volume—all fundamental elements of the hydrological cycle. We have accelerated major processes like erosion, applied massive quantities of nitrogen that leaks from soil to ground and surface waters and, sometimes, literally siphoned all water from rivers, emptying them for human uses before they reach the ocean. We have diverted vast amounts of freshwater to harness fossil

energy, dammed major waterways, and destroyed aquatic ecosystems.” “The idea of the Anthropocene underscores the point that human activities and their impacts have global significance for the future of all living species — ours included. Humans are changing the character of the world water system in significant ways with inadequate knowledge of the system and the consequences of changes being imposed. From a research position, human-water interactions must be viewed as a continuum and a coupled system, requiring interdisciplinary inquiry like that which has characterized the GWSP since its inception.”. Among many examples of humanity’s oversized imprint on the world, cited in a paper by James Syvitski, Chair of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and three fellow experts (in full: http://bit.ly/Yx4COp), and in a new “Water in the Anthropocene” video to debut in Bonn May 21 (available at gwsp.org and http://www.anthropocene.info): Humanity uses an area the size of South America to grow its crops and an area the size of Africa for raising livestock Due to groundwater and hydrocarbon pumping in low lying coastal areas, two-thirds of major river deltas are sinking, some of them at a rate four times faster on average than global sea level is rising More rock and sediment is now moved by human activities such as shoreline in-filling, damming and mining than by the natural erosive forces of ice, wind and water combined Many river floods today have links to human activities, including the Indus flood of 2010 (which killed 2,000 people), and the Bangkok flood of 2011 (815 deaths). On average, humanity has built one large dam every day for the last 130 years. Tens of thousands of large dams now distort natural river flows to which ecosystems and aquatic life adapted over millennia Drainage of wetlands destroys their capacity to ease floods—a free service of nature expensive to replace Evaporation from poorly-managed irrigation renders many of the world’s rivers dry — no water, no life. And so, little by little, tens of thousands of species edge closer to extinction every day.Needed: Better water system monitoring and governance: The water community stresses that concern now extends far beyond ‘classic’ drinking water and sanitation issues and

includes water quality and quantity for ecosystems at all scales. Says GWSP co-chair Claudia Pahl-Wostl: “The fact is, as world water problems worsen, we lack adequate efforts to monitor the availability, condition and use of water — a situation presenting extreme long term cost and danger.” “Human water security is often achieved in the short term at the expense of the environment with harmful long-term implications. The problems are largely caused by governance failure and a lack of systemic thinking in both developed and developing countries. Economic development without concomitant institutional development will lead to greater water insecurity in the long-term. Global leadership is required to deal with the water challenges of the 21st century.”"Humanity changes the way water moves around the globe like never before, causing dramatic harm,” says Bonn conference keynote speaker Joe Alcamo, Chief Scientist of the UN Environment Programme and former co-chair of the GWSP. “By diverting freshwater for agricultural, industrial and municipal use, for example, our coastal wetlands receive less and less, and often polluted, freshwater. The results include decreased inland and coastal biodiversity, increased coastal salinity and temperature, and contaminated agricultural soils and agricultural runoff.”Adds Charles Vörösmarty, co-Chair and a founding member of the GWSP, which receives input from more hundreds of international scientists: “By throwing concrete, pipes, pumps, and chemicals at our water problems, to the tune of a half-trillion dollars a year, we’ve produced a technological curtain separating clean water flowing from our pipes and the highly-stressed natural waters that sit in the background. We treat symptoms of environmental abuse rather than underlying causes. Thus, problems continue to mount in the background, yet the public is largely unaware of this reality or its growing costs.”Aims of the Bonn meeting : Featuring 60 special topic

sessions, “Water in the Anthropocene” is a capstone event for the GWSP, which is developing “Future Water,” the water-related component of the emerging new multi-dimensional international collaborative environmental research framework, Future Earth.A goal of the meeting is to synthesize major global water research achievements in the last decade and help assembling the scientific foundations to articulate a common vision of Earth’s water future.It will recommended priorities for decision makers in the areas of earth system science and water resources governance and management.And it will constitute a scientific prelude to October’s Budapest Water Summit, a major objective of which is to elevate the importance of water issues within the UN General Assembly negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals — a set of globally-agreed future objectives to succeed the UN Millennium Development Goals in 2015. Observers expect adoption of “water security” as a Sustainable Development Goal. Water expert Janos Bogardi, Senior Advisor to GWSP, says the absence of defined global water quantity and quality standards for personal use, agriculture and healthy ecosystems are critical gaps as the world community develops its next set of shared medium-term objectives. “These definitions constitute a cardinal challenge today for scientists and politicians alike. It is important to reach consensus in order to make progress on the increasingly important notion of ‘water security’,” says Dr. Bogardi, stressing that changing terminology will not in itself solve problems. “Replacing the word ‘sustainability’ with ‘security’ is not a panacea.”. With respect to quantity, less than 20 liters daily for sanitary needs and drinking is deemed “water misery” while 40 to 80 liters is considered “comfortable.” (Current US per capita average daily consumption is over 300 liters; daily usage in urban Germany is

about 120 liters per capita and in urban Hungary, where water is relatively expensive, the figure is 80 liters.) Missing also are authoritative scientific determinations of how much water can be drawn without crossing a “tipping point” threshold into ecosystem collapse. While there is no general rule, GWSP scientists say withdrawals of 30% to 40% of a renewable freshwater resource constitutes “extreme” water stress, but underline scope to continue satisfying needs if water is returned and recycled in good quality. Mining fossil groundwater resources is by definition non-sustainable.The GWSP is developing water quality guidelines for people, agriculture and ecosystems in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.”The urgency of formulating the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and a tracking system for their success means that quite soon the SDG negotiators must offer-up water targets,” says Dr. Vörösmarty. “Whether they focus predominantly on continuing the Millennium Development Goals (narrowly on drinking water and sanitation for human health) or formulate a more comprehensive agenda that simultaneously optimizes water security for humans as well as for nature remains an open question. The water sciences community stands ready to take on this challenge. Are the the decision makers?” Definitions of water security: In 2007, World Bank expert David Grey and Claudia Sadoff of IUCN, defined water security as “The availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments and economies.” Their use of the term “acceptable” acknowledges that water security has relative, negotiable meanings.In March, another formulation was set out by UN-Water, the United Nations’ inter-agency coordination mechanism for all water-related issues.It defined water security as: “The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of and acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection

against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.” (see http://bit.ly/1864vMG) – About the Global Water System Project (gwsp.org). The Global Water System Project seeks to answer the fundamental, multi-faceted question: How are humans changing the global water cycle, the associated biogeochemical cycles, and the biological components of the global water system and what are the social feedbacks arising from these changes? GWSP Core Themes: 1. What are the magnitudes of anthropogenic and environmental changes in the global water system and what are the key mechanisms by which they are induced? 2. What are the main linkages and feedbacks within the earth system arising from changes in the global water system? How resilient and adaptable is the global water system to change, and what are sustainable water management strategies?GWSP gratefully acknowledges support of its activities provided by the four Global Environmental Change programmes of the International Council for Science — DIVERSITAS, International Human Dimension Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) — and by national and international research funding agencies. The GWSP International Project Office received decade-long support from the Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMBF). Contact: Alma van der Veen. News from: Global Water System Project. —- Shifts in global water systems ≈ markers of a new geological epoch: Welcome to the Anthropocene. —- http://goodnews.ws/

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di dare produzioni sostenibili nell’ambito dei nuovi scenari”. “Il frumento duro, coltivato su più di 500 milioni di ettari in tutto il mondo, è la base della dieta e del reddito agricolo in Europa, America e Australia, ma le malattie e gli stress ambientali continuano a limitare e a degradare la qualità del raccolto”, spiega Emilia Chiancone, presidente dell’Accademia nazionale delle scienze. “Questi ostacoli richiedono continua attenzione da parte della comunità scientifica”. Al convegno sono previsti circa 60 relazioni e 130 poster da parte di studiosi e ricercatori. Il programma scientifico (allegato) include ricerche sull’origine e l’evoluzione della specie, le risorse genetiche alla base delle vecchie varietà e delle specie selvatiche, il miglioramento genetico per una produzione sostenibile, le resistenze e tolleranze ad agenti patogeni, insetti e avversità ambientali e sui recenti avanzamenti della genomica.“I prodotti a base di frumento che mangiamo oggi”, spiega ancora Domenico Pignone, “sono frutto del miglioramento genetico cui il cereale è stato sottoposto, prima in maniera non scientifica dagli agricoltori, poi in modo più rigoroso. Ma ciò ha portato alla perdita di alcuni geni e delle associate caratteristiche che oggi la ricerca ritiene importante recuperare, grazie alle tecnologie avanzate della biologia e dell’informatica, per fronteggiare le sfide alimentari del futuro”. – Accademia delle scienze, Dipartimento di scienze bio-agroalimentari del Cnr, Enea, Cra e Cimmyt, Icarda, Fao – Convegno internazionale ‘Genetics and Breeding of Durum Wheat’-  Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche, Piazzale Aldo Moro 7 – 27 – 30 maggio 2013. —- Pasta italiana a rischio? —- http://goodnews.ws/

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Rinunciare al fumo non significa per forza prendere peso. Una ricerca dimostra che tasse e divieti antifumo possono non solo contribuire a ridurre il consumo di tabacco, ma incidono anche significativamente sulla diminuzione dell’obesità. È uno dei più classici luoghi comuni sull’argomento: smettere di fumare fa bene ma fa anche ingrassare. Secondo una ricerca di tre giovani economisti italiani, però, le cose non stanno proprio così. Davide Dragone, Francesco Manaresi e Luca Savorelli, ricercatori rispettivamente dell’Università di Bologna, della Banca d’Italia e della University of St Andrews in Scozia, hanno dimostrato infatti che la riduzione del consumo di tabacco, ottenuta attraverso tasse e divieti antifumo, può anche concorrere in modo significativo alla diminuzione dell’obesità. Partendo dall’idea che mangiare e fumare siano scelte interdipendenti, i tre studiosi spiegano che il fumo e l’obesità sono complementari piuttosto che sostituti.La prevenzione e la correzione di comportamenti che portano all’obesità o al consumo di tabacco è diventata una priorità sia dei governi nazionali che dell’Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità. Solo negli Stati Uniti il sistema sanitario nazionale spende circa 117 miliardi di dollari per la lotta al fumo e 190 miliardi per l’obesità. E dai dati emerge che l’intensa campagna antifumo degli ultimi quarant’anni ha inciso in modo considerevole sul consumo di tabacco: se nel 1965 il 42 per cento degli statunitensi fumava, nel 2007 i fumatori erano calati al 20 per cento della popolazione. “Nello stesso periodo, però – osserva Davide Dragone – si è osservato un importante aumento della percentuale di popolazione obesa o gravemente obesa (passata dal 15 per cento ad oltre il 30 per cento). Poiché la nicotina riduce l’appetito ed accelera il metabolismo, è sempre stato spontaneo ipotizzare che le campagne antifumo potessero aver anch’esse contribuito, insieme ovviamente ad altri fattori, all’aumento del peso corporeo della popolazione. La nostra ricerca mostra invece un risultato opposto”. Lo studio – finanziato da FarmaFactoring Foundation in collaborazione con l’Associazione Italiana di Economia Sanitaria – evidenzia infatti che, benché nel periodo immediatamente successivo all’introduzione di nuove politiche antifumo si osservi una diminuzione del numero di fumatori ed un aumento del peso corporeo medio della popolazione, già a distanza di due anni le persone riescono ad abituarsi al nuovo stile di vita, non solo fumando meno ma diventando anche più attente alle abitudini alimentari. Il risultato è una riduzione del peso corporeo medio della popolazione rispetto al periodo precedente all’introduzione delle politiche antifumo. “Quello che abbiamo osservato, facendo riferimento a un campione rappresentativo della popolazione statunitense nel periodo 1999-2008, – continua Dragone – è un generale miglioramento della qualità della dieta e una riduzione del contenuto calorico del cibo consumato, con un calo nell’indice di massa corporea del 2,5 per cento, in risposta ad un aumento delle accise sulle sigarette di 10 centesimi di dollaro. Anche i bandi antifumo determinano una modifica nelle abitudini alimentari, con effetti diversi a seconda del luogo di applicazione. Se dopo l’introduzione dei divieti antifumo nei bar si tende a mangiare minori quantità di cibo, ma di peggiore qualità, nei ristoranti si tende a mangiare di più, ma meglio”. Dragone, Manaresi e Savorelli rivelano un lato delle politiche antifumo che fino ad oggi era rimasto sconosciuto: non solo questi provvedimenti portano a ridurre il numero di fumatori, ma nel medio periodo contribuiscono anche a contrastare l’obesità, spingendo le persone a modificare in meglio le proprie abitudini alimentari. Decidere di smettere di fumare diventa allora una scelta doppiamente raccomandabile: non solo riduce il rischio di malattie polmonari, cardiache e tumorali, ma spinge anche ad abitudini alimentari più sane, e provoca un generale aumento del benessere fisico. Allegati: “Tobacco Taxes and Smoking Bans Impact Differently on Obesity and Eating Habits”. Fonte: Università di Bologna. —- http://goodnews.ws/

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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced the most detailed observations ever of the Ring Nebula (Messier 57). This image reveals intricate structure only hinted at in previous observations, and has allowed scientists to construct a model of the nebula in 3D — showing the true shape of this striking object.Formed by a star throwing off its outer layers as it runs out of fuel, the Ring Nebula is an archetypal planetary nebula [1]. It is both relatively close to Earth and fairly bright, and so was first recorded in the late 18th century. As is common with astronomical objects, its precise distance is not known, but it is thought to lie just over 2000 light-years from Earth. From Earth’s perspective, the nebula looks roughly elliptical. However, astronomers have combined ground-based data with new observations using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to observe the nebula again, hunting for clues about its structure, evolution, physical conditions and motion. It turns out that the nebula is shaped like a distorted doughnut. We are gazing almost directly down one of the poles of this structure, with a brightly coloured barrel of material stretching away from us. Although the centre of this doughnut may look empty, it is actually full of lower density material that stretches both towards and away from us, creating a shape similar to a rugby ball slotted into the doughnut’s central gap.The brightest part of this nebula is what we see as the colourful main ring. This is composed of gas thrown off by a dying star at the centre of the nebula. This star is on its way to becoming a white dwarf — a very small, dense, and hot body that is the final evolutionary stage for a star like the Sun.The Ring Nebula is one of the most notable objects in our skies. It was discovered in 1779 by astronomer Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix, and also

observed later that same month by Charles Messier, and added to the Messier Catalogue. Both astronomers stumbled upon the nebula when trying to follow the path of a comet through the constellation of Lyra, passing very close to the Ring Nebula [2]. Notes:[1] Planetary nebulae take their name from their roughly circular appearance through low-magnification telescopes. The phenomenon has nothing to do with planets. [2] Messier 57 was not the only object to be discovered during the tracking of this comet, named C/1779 A1. Messier and other astronomers added a handful of other nebulae to the catalogue during this observing period — Messiers 56, 58, 59, 60, and 61.More information: The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.The research on Messier 57 is described in a set of three papers, two published in The Astronomical Journal:“Studies of NGC 6720 with Calibrated HST WFC3 Emission Line Filter Images — I: Structure and Evolution”, available here.“Studies of NGC 6720 with Calibrated HST WFC3 Emission Line Filter Images — II: Physical Conditions”, available here. And a third paper that has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal: “Studies of NGC 6720 with Calibrated HST WFC3 Emission Line Filter Images — III: Tangential Motions using AstroDrizzle Images”, available here.The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations used in this image were led by C. R. O’Dell (Vanderbilt University, USA), G. J. Ferland (University of Kentucky, USA), W. J. Henney (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico), and M. Peimbert (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico).Image credit: NASA, ESA, and C. Robert O’Dell. —- Most detailed observations ever of the Ring Nebula. —- http://goodnews.ws/

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Messina ‘capitale’ nella sperimentazione delle nuove tecnologie energetiche. Sarà possibile testare ‘powertrain’ per veicoli elettrici ed ibridi, gassificatori per biomasse e accumulatori di idrogeno, batterie per applicazioni stazionarie e mobilità elettrica. Duemila metri quadri di superficie, tra uffici e aule per la formazione tecnica e nove laboratori completi di stazioni di prova al top della tecnologia. Sono questi i numeri del nuovo ‘Centro prove di tecnologie avanzate per l’energia’ dell’Istituto di tecnologie avanzate per l’energia del Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche (Itae-Cnr) di Messina.Un ‘gioiello’ costato 11 milioni e 800 mila euro e realizzato grazie al supporto economico fornito dal Ministero dell’ambiente e della tutela del territorio e del mare, dal Ministero dell’istruzione, dell’università e della ricerca, dalla Regione Sicilia e dal Cnr. “Il nuovo Centro è un vero e proprio generatore di possibilità non solo per la ricerca ma anche per il futuro sviluppo di tutta la Sicilia”, dichiara il presidente del Cnr, Luigi Nicolais. “Siamo certi che il polo contribuirà a dare maggior impulso all’internazionalizzazione del sistema ricerca e a incrementare innovazione e crescita per tutto il Paese”.“Il Centro è un polo scientifico-tecnologico pensato e realizzato con un duplice obiettivo”, sottolinea Gaetano Cacciola, direttore dell’Itae-Cnr, “da un

lato quello di attrarre aziende europee che vengano qui a sperimentare le nuove tecnologie e i loro nuovi prodotti prima della commercializzazione, dall’altro quello di incentivare queste imprese a investire da noi individuando siti idonei”. La prima pietra del Centro è stata posata nel 2009. Dal 2011 al 2013 è stata la volta dei collaudi della struttura e delle apparecchiature che hanno permesso oggi, di portare al tanto atteso taglio del nastro. La progettazione è stata pensata non tralasciando nessun dettaglio e con un occhio attento alle reali esigenze della ricerca sperimentale, alla sicurezza e alla riservatezza per le imprese.A Santa Lucia sopra Contesse, dove sorge il Centro, proprio di fronte alla sede del Cnr, sarà possibile testare ‘powertrain’ per veicoli elettrici ed ibridi, generatori di idrogeno alimentati da combustibili tradizionali e biocombustibili o da fonti rinnovabili mediante elettrolizzatori, gassificatori per biomasse e accumulatori di idrogeno, celle a combustibile ad elettrolita polimerico (Pefc), celle a combustibile ad alta temperatura (Sofc), batterie per applicazioni stazionarie e mobilità elettrica, integrazione di fonti rinnovabili con sistemi di generazione ed accumulo, sistemi cogenerativi e trigenerativi, pompe di calore ad assorbimento e adsorbimento.“Il taglio del nastro è solo il primo traguardo”, conclude Cacciola. “Il nostro prossimo obiettivo è fare in modo che il Centro, oltre a testare i prodotti, possa anche rilasciare le certificazioni necessarie al loro utilizzo”. - Istituto di tecnologie avanzate per l’energia ‘Nicola Giordano’, Itae-Cnr, Messina - inaugurazione ‘Centro prove di tecnologie avanzate per l’energia’. Fonte: CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. —--  http://goodnews.ws/

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Con questa nuova veduta di una spettacolare incubatrice stellare l’ESO celebra i 15 anni del VLT (Very Large Telescope) – lo strumento ottico più avanzato al mondo. Questa fotografia rivela densi grumi di polvere che si stagliano sulla nube rosata di gas incandescente che gli astronomi chiamano IC 2944. Le macchie opache sembrano gocce d’inchiostro che galleggiano in un cocktail alle fragole, le loro stravaganti forme sono scavate dalla potente radiazione prodotta dalle giovani stelle circostanti. Questa nuova immagine celebra un anniversario importante per il VLT (Very Large Telescope) – risale a quindici anni fa la prima luce del primo dei quattro UT (Unit Telescope), il 25 maggio 1998. Da allora i quattro telescopi giganti del progetto originale sono stati arricchiti da altri quattro piccoli telescopi ausiliari (AT) che fanno parte integrante dell’interferometro del VLT (VLTI). Il VLT è uno degli impianti astronomici da terra più potenti e produttivi attualmente in funzione. Nel 2012 sono stati pubblicati più di 600 articoli su riviste con referee basati su dati del VLT e del VLTI (ann13009). Le nubi insterstellari di polvere e gas

sono le incubatrici che danno vita alle nuove stelle. Questa nuova fotografia mostra una di queste, IC 2944, che appare come uno sfondo di debole luce rosata [1]: è una delle immagini di questo oggetto più nitide mai ottenute da terra [2]. La nube si trova a circa 6500 anni luce da noi, nella costellazione australe del Centauro. Questa zona del cielo ospita molte altre nebulose simili, osservate dagli astronomi per studiare i meccanismi della formazione stellare.Le nebulose a emissione come IC 2944 sono composte principalmente da idrogeno gassoso che risplende di una caratteristica tonalità rossastra a causa dell’intensa radiazione prodotta dalle tante stelle brillanti appena nate. Contro questo sfondo luminoso si stagliano chiaramente alcuni grumi scuri e misteriosi di polvere opaca: nubi fredde note come globuli di Bok, così chiamati dal nome delll’astronomo olandese-americano Bart Bok, che per primo negli anni ’40 del secolo scorso richiamò l’attenzione degli studiosi su queste formazioni come possibili siti di formazione stellare. Questo particolare insieme di globuli è noto come Globuli di Thackeray [3]. I globuli di Bok più grandi che si trovano in luoghi più tranquilli spesso collassano per formare nuove stelle ma quelli che si vedono in questa immagine sono bombardati dalla radiazione ultravioletta delle giovani e calde stelle vicine e vengono erosi e frammentati, come pezzi di burro in una padella bollente. È probabile che i Globuli di Thackeray verranno distrutti prima che possano collassare e formare stelle. I globuli di Bok non sono facili da studiare. Sono opachi alla luce visibile e perciò è difficile osservare il loro funzionamento interno. Sono dunque necessari altri strumenti perchè gli

astronomi possano svelare i loro segreti – osservazioni nella banda infrarossa o in quella submillimetrica dello spettro, per esempio, dove le nubi di polvere, a soli pochi gradi sopra lo zero assoluto, appaiono luminose. Questi studi dei globuli di Thackeray hanno confermato che al loro interno non è in corso alcuna formazione stellare.Questa regione di cielo è stata fotografata anche nel passato dal telescopio spaziale Hubble della NASA/ESA. Questa nuova visuale presa dallo strumento FORS sul VLT (Very Large Telescope) dell’ESO all’Osservatorio del Paranal nel nord del Cile [4] copre una zona più grande di quella visibile con Hubble a perciò un panorama più ampio di formazione stellare.Note: [1] La nebulosa IC 2944 è associata all’ammasso stellare brillante IC 2948. Entrambi i nomi a volte sono usati per descrivere l’intera regione. Molte stelle brillanti dell’ammasso sono visibili in questa immagine. [2] Il seeing dell’immagine blu in questa combinazione di colori era migliore di 0,5 arcosecondi, un valore realmente eccezionale per un telescopio da terra. [3] Sono stati scoperti dal Sud Africa dall’astronomo inglese A. David Thackeray nel 1950. [4] Questa immagine è stata ottenuta nel corso del programma “Gemme Cosmiche” dell’ESO, un’iniziativa di divulgazione tesa a produrre immagini di oggetti interessanti, misteriosi o semplicemente belli utilizzando i telescopi dell’ESO per scopi educativi e formativi. Il programma usa piccole quantità di tempo di osservazione, in periodi in cui il telescopio sarebbe comunque inutilizzato per osservazioni scientifiche. Tutti i dati raccolti potrebbero comunque essere adatti anche per scopi scientifici e sono messi a disposizione degli astronomi attraverso l’archivio scientifico dell’ESO. Fonte: ESO European Southern Observatory . —  http://goodnews.ws/

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Britons who are sleeping in a blue decorated bedroom are regularly getting the best night’s sleep according to a new sleep study out today. On average people sleeping in a blue room are getting seven hours and fifty two minutes sleep per night. The other favourable bedroom décor colours that aid Britons in achieving a good night’s sleep are certain shades of yellow, green, silver and orange. As colour has a remarkable impact upon an individual’s psychological and physical well being, Travelodge looked through the keyhole of 2,000 British homes to investigate the influence of the nation’s bedroom colour scheme against the quality and quantity of sleep they are getting every night. Key findings from the study revealed that households who have a blue colour scheme in their bedroom are getting the best night’s sleep across the country. This is probably due to the fact that the colour blue is associated with a feeling of calmness. The colour also helps to reduce blood pressure and heart rate which are essential in achieving a good quality night’s sleep. The second most favourable colour scheme for inducing a good night’s sleep is certain shades of yellow. Britons who sleep in a yellow décor bedroom are on average getting seven hours and forty minutes shut eye per night. The colour yellow stimulates the nervous

system which aids relaxation. It also creates a warm and cosy atmosphere which is essential when nodding off. A green themed bedroom colour scheme is the nation’s third most popular sleep inducing colour palette – with sleepers getting on average seven hours and thirty six minutes of kip. The colour green creates a restful, calming environment which helps relaxation which is essential in inducing sleep. A silver bedroom décor is the fourth most popular sleep inducing colour scheme – with individuals getting on average seven hours and thirty three minutes sleep per night. The metallic colour silver makes a bedroom feel luxurious and glow like moonlight – this tricks the eye into believing it is night time which induces sleep. The colour silver also creates a soothing and calming environment which encourages good sleep.An orange themed bedroom colour scheme is the nation’s fifth most popular sleep inducing colour palette – with sleepers getting on average seven hours and twenty eight minutes snooze time. Shades of orange add warmth to the room and help create a stable and reassuring atmosphere and can even help digestion too – especially if you have eaten a large or late evening meal. The colour orange also helps to warm and relax body muscles, which is an essential element to attain a good quality night’s sleep. In contrast, the study also revealed the least favoured bedroom colour schemes for obtaining a regular good quality night’s sleep are purple, brown and grey. Britons who sleep in a purple bedroom are, on average, only getting five hours and fifty six minutes sleep per night. The reason for this could be that the colour purple is a mentally stimulating colour which makes it difficult to switch off after a busy day. The other two least favoured colour schemes are brown, where sleepers obtain on average six hours and five minutes sleep per night and a grey colour scheme which results in individuals getting on average six hours and twelve

minutes sleep per night. The colour brown and grey in décor can be dreary and depressing especially in the bedroom and make occupants feel emotionally isolated and uncomfortable – resulting in a restless sleep. Chris Idzikowski, Sleep Expert from the Edinburgh Sleep Centre commented on the study and said: “This is an amazing result, as there are specialised receptors called ganglion cells in the retina part of our eyes, which are most sensitive to the colour blue. These receptors feed information into an area deep in our brain that controls 24 hour rhythms, and affects how we perform and feel during the day. That interaction between light, sleep and wakefulness is supremely important.” Colour Therapy & Holistic Interior Design consultant, Suzy Chiazzari, said: “Your bedroom décor can certainly impact upon your quality and quantity of sleep per night. So it is worth considering taking a close look at the colours in your bedroom décor.“It’s not surprising that blue came out top in the study of the best colours to promote sleep, as the colour blue is very restful to the eye. Psychologically we relate blue to calm waters and the blue sky, both of which we find very soothing. Like blue, certain shades of yellow and green, are relaxing colours too, which are known to reduce stress which aid a good night’s sleep too.“At the opposite end of the scale, although many people think purple creates a sense of luxury in the bedroom, this colour can reduce the number of hours of sleep you attain. Purple has a strong connection with the more artistic community being a colour reported to stimulate creativity and the unconscious mind. Therefore sleeping in a purple room is more likely to promote vivid dreams or even nightmares; resulting in you feeling tired in the morning.” The sleep study also delved deeper into how the spectrum of colours impacts upon our daily psychological and physical wellbeing and revealed the following results:• Contrary to popular belief,

couples who sleep in a bedroom that is decorated in a luxurious caramel décor make love on average three times per week. In contrast couples who sleep in a passionate red décor bedroom make love just once a week. • Fifty eight percent of Britons who have a blue bedroom reported they regularly wake up feeling happy. Whilst 22% of respondents who sleep in a bedroom decorated in a shade of green reported they regularly wake up feeling upbeat and positive. • Britons who have a grey themed bedroom are the ones spend the most time shopping online in bed. • A fifth (21%) of Britons who have a silver décor in their bedroom reported they are more motivated to exercise in their bedroom. • Britain’s workaholics who like to work in bed will have either a brown, cream or white bedroom colour scheme and will take work to bed with them at least three times during the week. The sleep study also revealed the nation’s top working professions bedroom colour schemes. Interestingly bankers and estate agents opt for a colour scheme associated with wealth which is a gold décor in their bedroom. Whilst, builders, teachers, civil servants opt for a sleep inducing blue colour scheme in their bedroom. Shop workers are more likely to have a boring brown themed bedroom.Frances Whitley, Travelodge In-house Interior Designer said: “Room colour does influence your mood and set the tone for your living environment. Therefore it’s important to choose a bedroom décor that will help you relax and induce sleep. “I have spent the last 12 months working with our customers to create a purpose built room for them. In today’s modern world, Britons want a high level of co-ordination between colours, shades, patterns and features. They are no longer happy with everything being the same colour. Tastes are also moving away from dark shades; today hotel users want a clean, fresh and calming colour scheme. Therefore in our new Travelodge room, we have injected different shades of the colour blue into our room décor. This creates a calm relaxing environment to help customers attain a good night’s sleep whilst enabling them to feel totally energised upon waking up in the morning.” News from: Travelodge, cheap hotels throughout the UK & Ireland. - http://goodnews.ws/

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Powerful Midwest Storm System.This animation of imagery from NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite shows the movement of storm systems in the south central United States on May 20, 2013. Warm, moist gulf air flowing across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri triggered tornadoes, with an F-4 tornado (winds between 166 and 200 mph) crossing Moore, Okla., on May 20 around 3 p.m. CDT.Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Dennis Chesters. – On May 20, 2013, NASA and NOAA satellites observed the system that generated severe weather in the south central United States and spawned the Moore, Okla., tornado.The tornado that struck Moore on the afternoon of Monday, May 20, was an F-4 tornado on the enhanced Fujita scale, according to the National Weather Service. F-4 tornadoes have sustained winds from 166 to 200 mph. This tornado was about twice as wide as the tornado that struck Moore on May 3, 1999. Moore is located 10 miles south of Oklahoma City. Before, during and after the tornado, satellites provided imagery and data to forecasters. The first tornado warning was issued around 2:40 p.m. CDT (local time). By 3:01 p.m. CDT a tornado emergency was issued for Moore, and 35 minutes later at 3:36 p.m. CDT, the tornado spun down and dissipated. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a visible-light image that provided a detailed look at the supercell thunderstorm. NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite provided continuously updated satellite imagery depicting the storm’s movement. After the tornado, the

NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite’s lightning observations showed that the thunderstorm complex was still active after nightfall.NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite provided forecasters with images of the storm system every 15 minutes. One GOES-13 satellite image was captured at 19:55 UTC (2:55 p.m. CDT) as the tornado began its deadly swath. The tornado was generated near the bottom of a line of clouds resembling an exclamation mark. The GOES-13 satellite imagery from the entire day was assembled into an animation by the NASA GOES Project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Four minutes after the tornado dissipated (19:40 UTC / 3:40 p.m. EDT), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a visible image of the supercell thunderstorm that spawned the Moore tornado. That image was created by the NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team and Adam Voiland, NASA Earth Observatory. Later as the storm system continued through the region, another satellite captured an image of the storm at night that showed it was still powerful. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite aboard Suomi NPP observed lightning in a nighttime image on May 21 at 07:27 UTC (3:27 a.m. EDT). Lightning appeared as rectangular shapes in the image. The VIIRS imagery showed the city lights in the Oklahoma City area, but there was reduced light output in Moore as a result of tornado damage.The Suomi NPP satellite carries an instrument so sensitive to low light levels that it can detect lightning in the middle of the night. The Day/Night band on Suomi NPP produces nighttime visible imagery using illumination from natural (the moon, forest fires) and man-made sources (city lights). The data were captured by the direct broadcast antenna at University of Wisconsin. News from: NASA. - Satellites See Storm System that Created Moore… – http://goodnews.ws/

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European team led by EPFL unveils programmable miniature artificial compound eye. While consumer cameras are inspired from the single-lens mammalian eye, most animal species use compound eyes, which consist of a dense mosaic of tiny eyes. Compared to single-lens eyes, compound eyes offer lower resolution, but significantly larger fields of view, thin package, and with negligible distortion, all features which are very useful for motion detection in tasks such as collision avoidance, distance estimation, take-off and landing. Attempts have recently been made to develop artificial compound eyes, but none of the solutions proposed so far included fast motion detection in a very large range of illuminations as insects do.The novel curved artificial compound eye (CurvACE) features a panoramic, hemispherical field of view with a resolution identical to that of the fuitfly in less than 1 mm thickness. Additionally, it can extract images 3 times faster than fruitfly, and includes neuromorphic photoreceptors that allow motion perception in a wide range of environments from a sunny day to moon light.Furthermore, the artificial compound eye possesses embedded and programmable vision processing, which allows

customizable integration in a broad range of applications where motion detection is important, such as mobile (micro) robots/micro air vehicles (MAVs), home automation, surveillance, medical instruments, prosthetic devices, and smart clothing. – While consumer cameras are inspired from the single-lens mammalian eye, most animal species use compound eyes, which consist of a dense mosaic of tiny eyes. Compared to single-lens eyes, compound eyes offer lower resolution, but significantly larger fields of view, thin package, and with negligible distortion, all features which are very useful for motion detection in tasks such as collision avoidance, distance estimation, take-off and landing. Attempts have recently been made to develop artificial compound eyes, but none of the solutions proposed so far included fast motion detection in a very large range of illuminations as insects do.The novel curved artificial compound eye (CurvACE) features a panoramic, hemispherical field of view with a resolution identical to that of the fruitfly in less than 1 mm thickness. Additionally, it can extract images 3 times faster than fruitfly, and includes neuromorphic photoreceptors that allow motion perception in a wide range of environments from a sunny day to moon light. Furthermore, the artificial compound eye possesses embedded and programmable vision processing, which allows customizable integration in a broad range of applications where motion detection is important, such as mobile (micro)robots/micro air vehicles (MAVs), home automation, surveillance, medical instruments, prosthetic devices, and smart clothing. Info: here. News from: École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne EPFL. – http://goodnews.ws/

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Un’autobiografia in forma di saggi e di racconti. Per la prima volta ecco il laboratorio creativo di Andrea Camilleri (con una parte dedicata a Montalbano e alla sua Vigata) attraverso un percorso ricco di personaggi, luoghi, piccoli e grandi eventi, e con incursioni nella letteratura, nella filosofia, nella politica. Che bellezza leggere i suoi ricordi di ragazzo, le “controstorie” della sua Sicilia, e poi recuperare l’Italia di ieri e di oggi, intrattenuti dalla sua inesauribile vena critica e ironica. Un ritratto a colori vivacissimi di come siamo e cosa pensiamo. Una scoperta. – Andrea Camilleri è uno dei più famosi scrittori italiani. I suoi romanzi sono conosciutissimi non solo in Italia, il commissario Montalbano è ormai un personaggio popolare. Questo volume raccoglie interventi inediti, racconti, saggi scritti lungo l’arco di tutta la produzione di Camilleri. – Scrivo perché è sempre meglio che scaricare casse al mercato centrale. Scrivo perché non so fare altro. Scrivo perché dopo posso dedicare i libri ai miei nipoti. Scrivo perché così mi ricordo di tutte le persone che ho amato. Scrivo perché mi piace raccontarmi storie. Scrivo perché mi piace raccontare storie. Scrivo perché alla fine posso prendermi la mia birra. Scrivo per restituire qualcosa di tutto quello che ho letto. —– Acquista il libro ‘Come la penso. Alcune cose che ho dentro la testa’ di Andrea Camilleri su: laFeltrinelli.it. Prezzo online: € 11,81 (€ 13,90 -15%). Disponibile anche in e-Book, prezzo online: € 9,99. - http://goodnews.ws/

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Save the Children lotta per i diritti dei bambini in tutto il mondo
Acquista subito i tuoi libri: consegna gratuita se spendi almeno 19 €!