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Ascencion Island, South Atlantic
I came across an interesting news item on the BBC online news site about a small island called Ascension, in the middle of the south Atlantic.

Not much excitement there, other than the fact that when naturalist Charles Darwin first came across the island in 1836, towards the end of his famous five year travels on board his ship, the Beagle, it was nothing more than a barren, volcanic rock, devoid of trees, lacking in water and buffeted by dry trade winds from southern Africa.

In contrast today, Ascencion Island has peaks covered by lush tropical cloud forests, and a fully functioning ecosystem. So what changed to make this possible?

On his return to the UK, Darwin talked to his good friend, botanist and explorer Joseph Hooker about the island. He in turn, set in motion collaboration between the British Royal Navy and the botanical gardens of Kew, to arrange shipments of trees to Ascension. It was a simple plan, plant trees to capture the rain and reduce evaporation from the soil – and it worked!

Ecologist, Dave Wilkinson, from Liverpool John Moores University in England believes there is a lot to be learnt from this artificial eco-system, saying “What it tells us is that we can build a fully functioning ecosystem through a series of chance accidents or trial and error".

Wilkinson thinks that the principles that emerge from this experiment could be used to transform future colonies on Mars, so that perhaps, rather than trying to improve an environment by force, the best approach might be to work with life to help it "find its own way".

Read the full article by going to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11137903
 
 
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Work has now begun digging the shaft that will be used to rescue the 33 Chilean miners trapped 700m (2,300ft) below the Earth’s surface.

 A huge Australian-made “Strat 950” excavator will first drill a 33cm diameter hole down to the miners, which will then be enlarged to between 60 and 70cm – wide enough to raise the men one by one in a rescue capsule.

At present, essential supplies are being sent down to the men in small capsules 4 inches (10cm) wide and 60 inches (150cm) long, via three narrow shafts.

Initial physical problems to overcome are making sure the men take onboard enough calories, nutrients and liquids to remain healthy in the dark conditions where temperatures average around 32 degrees Celcius, and humidity is high.

Quick-dry clothing has been sent down to try and combat the skin fungal conditions from which some of the men have been suffering due to the moisture, and mats supplied also for sleep, to protect from the damp ground.

Luckily, one of the trapped men has some medical training and has been able to give his fellow miners vaccinations against tetanus, with flu vaccinations expected to be sent down later in the week.

The physical implications of their entrapment are more obvious and so easier to try and remedy. The mental implications, however, of being entombed in the dark so far below ground for such a period of time are immeasurable.

NASA experts are due to arrive at the mine this week at the request of the Chilean authorities. The team will include a doctor, nutritionist, engineer and a psychologist, all of whom will hopefully be able to adapt some of the lessons learnt from astronaut research and operations in Space, to help the miners trapped beneath the Earth. 
 
 
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A crowded Universe, Scott Manley
A fascinating colour-coded video has been released, created by British astronomer Scott Manley, to demonstrate just how crowded our universe really is.

As telescopes have improved over the last three decades, more and more asteroids have been discovered and these have been charted on an increasingly congested map of the solar system. Manley has created a three minute video clip, which is the equivalent of two months per second, and added the path of each new asteroid as it has been discovered.

Green dots represent the number of minor planets in the asteroid belt, yellow dots being asteroids called ‘Earth-approachers’ whose path comes near our solar system, and finally the red dots or ‘Earth-crossers’, which are those that fly around the inside of the Earth’s orbit.

Manley, a former research student at Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, created 'maps' every day from 1980 to 2010 to pinpoint the location of asteroids discovered by telescopes. Thirty years ago we knew of only 8,954, whereas today the number discovered has risen to 530,091.

Asteroids are small solar system bodies (smaller than planets) that orbit the sun. Their size can range from 950km for the largest known asteroid called Ceres, to as little as a few metres across.

Small asteroids with a diameter of around five to 10 metres enter Earth's atmosphere about once a year, but normally explode before impact. Larger asteroids of about 1km in size strike roughly every 500,000 years.

But don’t be too concerned by the video – although the positions of the asteroids are to scale, the size of the objects are expanded to make them visible, with one pixel on the screen being equal to 1 million kms.. This means that although an asteroid may appear to be right on top of the Earth in the video, in fact it could be up to a million kms away!

Watch the video in full below.

 
 
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The 33 trapped Chilean miners
Having already spent nearly 3 weeks trapped 2,200 feet below ground awaiting rescue, the 33 Chilean miners from the San Jose gold and copper mine near Copiapo, Chile will learn this week that they may well be there for many more weeks to come.

Their lifeline is currently a 6 inch wide bore hole drilled down from the surface, which will be used to pass supplies down to them in capsules, each taking about an hour to descend.

NASA experts, having long experience of dealing with astronauts ‘cut-off’ from planet Earth for long periods of time, are being consulted about how to help the men survive their long period of dark isolation, and how to keep them healthy and sane.

Dr Joan Vernikos, former director of NASA’s life-sciences division for almost a decade, and specializing in the effects of stress on people in extreme situations, emphasized in a recent Newsweek article the importance of the miners being able to talk to someone ‘outside’ of their situation, saying that “In a spacecraft or a mine they are helpless; they depend completely on support from the outside world.”

Dr Vernikos further discusses the longer term implications for the men and their families when they eventually emerge from the isolation that they will have experienced, and attempt to readapt to ‘normality’.

To see the full article, click the link below to take you to the Newsweek webpage:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/26/how-will-chilean-miners-stay-sane.html
 
 
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Having mentioned in a blog last week that Isaac Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation was being challenged by theoretical physicist Erik Verlinde, this week it seems to be the turn of Albert Einstein to be put to the test.

Polish cosmologist Nikodem Poplawski of Indiana University USA is suggesting that it is in fact possible that parallel universes could exist at the end of each black hole, thus contradicting Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity from 1915.

According to Albert Einstein, one of the greatest names in 20th century physics, the centre of black holes are a place where the density of matter is infinite, called ‘singularity’, and as such, nothing can escape, not even light (hence the name black hole). 

However, Poplawski is putting forward the idea that the behaviour of the universe is more like a spring being compressed with matter rebounding and expanding continuously – when compressed to an extreme, it reaches a critical point where the repulsive force overcomes gravity, allowing it to expand (as would happen with a spring).

Going further, he proposes that this "spring effect" of the universe creates the possibility of the formation of parallel universes to our own, all connected to each other by black holes, which act like bridges.

Both Verlinde and Poplawski are trying to call into question the current accepted scientific concepts – the former by suggesting that Isaac Newton was mistaken and that in the microscopic world gravity does not exist, and the latter by considering that Einstein’s theory has some doubtful points that perhaps need modifying.

For all of us, we should never tire of raising questions about the world in which we live. When I am asked a question about something that seems improbable or impossible, I don’t hesitate to say in response: “If you look down at the ground beneath your feet, would you not believe that the Earth is moving?”

Science is like that – the obvious answer is not always the correct answer!
 
 
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Sword of Orion
An Australian amateur astronomer, Mr Michael Sidonio, 43, is a very happy man this week after winning a science photography competition with this picture entitled, ‘A Kaleidoscope of Dust and Gas in Orion’.

Mr Sidonio drove deep into the countryside of New South Wales, Australia, to escape the lights of big cities, and trained his camera into the clear night sky. Using a very slow exposure of 12.5 hours, he managed to reveal the beautiful swirling mass of stars, dust and gas that make up the Sword of Orion, situated 1500 light years away.

This formation is known as a "stellar nursery" because it is where thousands of new stars are born, and the explosion of colours are normally invisible to the naked eye. Ultra violet radiation emitted deep inside by the stars produce the red hues, and the blue-grey areas are formed from huge clouds of fine dust particles.

 
 
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Astronaut S Williams on ISS Treadmill
Reserachers from Marquette University, Milwaukee, USA, led by Prof Robert Fitts recently published results in the Journal of Physiology showing that astronauts suffer from a loss of muscle fibre mass, force and power when subject to the microgravity environment on board a spacecraft for any length of time.

The problem of muscle loss is a well known and researched area in space medicine, but this study is the first to include specific analysis of muscle cells on long-duration missions. Fitts and his team collected tiny samples of calf muscle tissue from nine US and Russian astronauts, 45 days before launch and again on the day of return from a six month mission onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Sample analyses results confirmed just how much muscles atrophy in zero gravity takes place, with according to Fitts, a decline of more than 40% in the capacity for physical work.

Crew members on board the ISS take part in a program of daily exercise, typically devoting up to 2 hours of their day for preparation and exercise time, either pedalling a stationary bike, jogging on a treadmill while held down by a harness, or using resistance devices. A once a day exercise session, however, no matter how intense, cannot compensate for the fact that whilst in Space their bodies are not having to work against the force of gravity.

From the day that we are born, here on Earth, we grow and function in a world where every movement we make requires our physiology to battle against gravity – and thus, our muscles develop and are maintained. Obviously, a lot depends on how active an individual is as to how well maintained those muscles are – are you a fitness god or a couch potato?

But the point is that astronauts on the ISS live in a virtually gravity free world. This has physiological effects and consequences which need to be addressed if a manned trip to Mars is ever to be a realistic option. 
 
 
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ESA A300 Zero-G airliner
A European Space Agency (ESA) press release last week signals a call for new proposals from you scientists out there to submit proposals for experiments to be conducted during the 54th Parabolic Flight campaign, to take place in Spring 2011.

ESA has been providing such research opportunities for over 25 years now, with the A300 Zero-G wide-body airliner having been used for the last ten. The A300 is one of the most modern and largest aircraft to be used for parabolic flights, but the difference with this campaign is that flights will no longer be restricted to simulation of microgravity only.

Recent new certification now means that on offer will also be flights including parabolas that produce reduced gravity levels of 0.16 g for approximately 23 seconds, and 0.38 g for around 30 seconds. These gravity levels equate to the conditions found on the Moon and Mars respectively.

But you’ll have to hurry – proposals need to be submitted by 31st August 2010, although those received after that date are likely to be considered for future campaigns. 

Needless to say, my application is already submitted!

Want to read more details? Then click the link below to take you to the ESA website:

http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMCQH5OJCG_index_0.html
 
 
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Erik Verlinde
Can it really be that the force of gravity does not exist?

This revolution in astrophysics is being suggested by Erik Verlinde, a Dutch theoretical physicist born in 1962. Verlinde’s idea contradicts the Universal Law of Gravitation first published in 1687 in the book "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" (mathematical principles of natural philosophy) by English astronomer, alchemist, philosopher and theologian Isaac Newton (1643-1727).

Newton’s discovery in 1685 came as a result of a series of studies over many years and changed forever humanity’s perception of the universe surrounding us. But can forever really mean forever?  Apparently, Erik disagrees with one of the greatest minds that existed and dares to say that "gravity does not exist."

The Dutchman, aged 48, sparked much controversy recently in a symposium at the Dutch Spinoza Institute with his revolutionary idea. For Erik, "What matters is that there is a difference in the concentration of information in the empty space between two masses and not what was hypothesized by Newton centuries ago”.

Erik Verlinde’s new theory has caused much debate in the scientific world. In an interview with Dutch newspaper Volkskrant, Verlinde said "In the microscopic world, Isaac Newton's theory is unfounded. The law of universal gravitation is valid for larger bodies such as apples and planets, "and he goes on to compare gravity with the pressures of a gas."The molecules themselves do not have any pressure, but a cylinder of gas has.”

The debate continues and more reading will have to be done for me to fully understand his hypothesis, however, for the first time Newton is being questioned. Humanity now has another chance to move forward towards the truth, towards new discoveries and to a different understanding of the world around us. Controversy is and should be a part of science for without it there would be no evolution. Verlinde versus Newton is just another chapter in our complex history.

Want to read more? Check out this New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html?_r=2&src=mv
 
 
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Stonehenge, UK
The past week has once again seen the annual return of the Perseids meteor shower, providing an opportunity to capture some magnificent images with some long exposure photography.

The stream of debris causing the meteor shower is called the Perseid cloud and stretches along the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle. The cloud consists of particles thrown out from the comet as it travels along it's 130 year long orbit, with much of the dust being about a thousand years old
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Chichijima, Japan



The shower is visible from mid-July onwards each year, with the peak of activity generally being between August 9th to 14th, but sadly for my fellow Brazilians, it is mainly visible in the northern hemisphere due to the path of the Swift-Tuttle's orbit. 

Yet another example of Mother Nature's beauty!