Tuesday, January 31, 2012

EU leaders seek growth as Greece crisis looms (AP)

BRUSSELS ? With another recession looming, European leaders on Monday met in Brussels to discuss ways to stimulate growth and create badly needed jobs, even as they drew up tighter spending limits to avoid a repeat of the crippling debt crisis.

Europe's debt crisis has put the continent and its leaders in an almost impossible situation. While they have to slash their deficits to reassure investors reluctant to lend to them, the debt crisis has also hammered the so-called "real economy," sending unemployment soaring. Many think that only government spending can restart growth.

While the 27 EU leaders meeting in Brussels will focus on walking the fine line between reining in spending and stimulating growth, the elephant in room is Greece.

Greece and its bondholders have come closer to a deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed euro130 billion ($170 billion) bailout.

Negotiators for Greece's private creditors said Saturday that a debt-reduction deal could become final within the next week. If the agreement works as planned, it could help Greece avoid a catastrophic default, which would be a blow to Europe's already weak financial system.

But European officials are afraid that even that deal may not be enough to fix Greece's finances, with some blaming Athens for dithering in its austerity promises.

German officials over the weekend proposed that Athens temporarily cede control over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts.

The idea proved immediately controversial ? both the European Commission and the Greek government refuted it ? to the point that German Chancellor Angela Merkel pulled back on the idea when she arrived in Brussels.

She said Europe had to support Greece in implementing promised austerity and reform measures, "but all that will only work if Greece and all other states discuss this together."

Luxembourg Prime Minister, and head of the group of eurozone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters as he entered the summit that Greece couldn't be singled out.

"I'm strongly against the idea of imposing the debt commissioner only to Greece, that's just not acceptable" neither for Greece nor the rest of Europe, Juncker said.

The negotiations in Greece are crucial because it is clear that Athens will never be able to pay off all of its debts, especially as austerity measures take their toll on its anemic economy. Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, cautioned against punishing Greece too severely.

"Greece needs an economic relaunch today and not in 2016," he told reporters on the sidelines of the summit. "So why not put together a stimulus package today instead of discussing another time a reduction in spending in a country that's in an economic depression?

He said that there are European funds for that kind of stimulus, but unlocking them has always posed a challenge.

The European Commission has proposed to summit leaders that euro82 billion in existing development funds be redirected toward countries in dire need of help to fix their labor markets.

Greece is not alone in facing slow growth and high unemployment. In Spain, for example, unemployment has soared to nearly 23 percent and closed in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million people ? or almost one out of every four ? out of work as the country slides toward recession.

Even countries in the so-called European "core" ? which are generally better off ? are suffering. The French government was forced Monday to revise down its growth forecast for the year from 1 percent to just 0.5 percent.

In fact, many now fear that Europe is on the verge of another recession, and leaders gathering Brussels said that spurring growth would be the focus of their talks Monday.

A draft of the summit conclusions, obtained by The Associated Press, proposes reducing barriers to do business across the EU's 27 states and giving better training to young people, who are particularly hard-hit by unemployment.

But it does not contain any new financial stimulus to boost growth, even though turning around Europe's economy would likely require more stimulus from governments, which are currently under pressure to cut ? rather than increase ? spending.

"We have to have balanced budgets and at the same time focus on growth and jobs," said Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark, which holds the rotating presidency of European Council. "It is possible to both at the same time and it is important to understand that these are two sides of the same coin."

The 27 heads of state and government got a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment on their way to Monday's summit in a city paralyzed by strikes. Leaders had to fly into the military airport of Beauvechain 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside of Brussels after the city's main airport was shutdown by a 24-hour strike.

Belgium's three main unions joined forces in the walkout to protest national budgetary measures that have in part been imposed on the country by the EU. If the country hadn't met cost-cutting targets, financial sanctions would have been imposed.

Monday's strike has been mirrored in many other member states. Overall, 23 million people are jobless across the EU, 10 percent of the active population.

"Europe has to offer jobs, social protection and perspective for the future. Otherwise it risks losing the support of its citizens," said the strike manifesto of the ACV union.

___

Associated Press writers Don Melvin, Robert Wielaard and Raf Casert contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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[OOC] The Black Crusades

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Monday, January 30, 2012

The Sexiest Men of the SAG Awards!

From George Clooney to Brad Pitt, check out photos of the swoon-worthy men who hit the Screen Actors Guild Awards this year.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/sag-awards-2012-photos-sexy-guys-red-carpet/1-b-423140?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Asag-awards-2012-photos-sexy-guys-red-carpet-423140

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That which does not kill yeast makes it stronger

That which does not kill yeast makes it stronger [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Gina Kirchweger
gxk@stowers.org
816-806-1036
Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Stress-induced genomic instability facilitates rapid cellular adaption in yeast

KANSAS CITY, MO Cells trying to keep pace with constantly changing environmental conditions need to strike a fine balance between maintaining their genomic integrity and allowing enough genetic flexibility to adapt to inhospitable conditions. In their latest study, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research were able to show that under stressful conditions yeast genomes become unstable, readily acquiring or losing whole chromosomes to enable rapid adaption.

The research, published in the January 29, 2012, advance online issue of Nature, demonstrates that stress itself can increase the pace of evolution by increasing the rate of chromosomal instability or aneuploidy. The observation of stress-induced chromosome instability casts the molecular mechanisms driving cellular evolution into a new perspective and may help explain how cancer cells elude the body's natural defense mechanisms or the toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs.

"Cells employ intricate control mechanisms to maintain genomic stability and prevent abnormal chromosome numbers," says the study's leader, Stowers investigator Rong Li, Ph.D. "We found that under stress cellular mechanisms ensuring chromosome transmission fidelity are relaxed to allow the emergence of progeny cells with diverse aneuploid chromosome numbers, producing a population with large genetic variation."

Known as adaptive genetic change, the concept of stress-induced genetic variation first emerged in bacteria and departs from a long-held basic tenet of evolutionary theory, which holds that genetic diversityevolution's raw material from which natural selection picks the best choice under any given circumstancearises independently of hostile environmental conditions.

"From an evolutionary standpoint it is a very interesting finding," says graduate student and first author Guangbo Chen. "It shows how stress itself can help cells adapt to stress by inducing chromosomal instability."

Aneuploidy is most often associated with cancer and developmental defects and has recently been shown to reduce cellular fitness. Yet, an abnormal number of chromosomes is not necessarily a bad thing. Many wild yeast strains and their commercial cousins used to make bread or brew beer have adapted to their living environs by rejiggering the number of chromosomes they carry. "Euploid cells are optimized to thrive under 'normal' conditions," says Li. "In stressful environments aneuploid cells can quickly gain the upper hand when it comes to finding creative solutions to roadblocks they encounter in their environment."

After Li and her team had shown in an earlier Nature study that aneuploidy can confer a growth advantage on cells when they are exposed to many different types of stress conditions, the Stowers researchers wondered whether stress itself could increase the chromosome segregation error rate.

To find out, Chen exposed yeast cells to different chemicals that induce various types of general stress and assessed the loss of an artificial chromosome. This initial screen revealed that many stress conditions, including oxidative stress, increased the rate of chromosome loss ten to 20-fold, a rate typically observed when cells are treated with benomyl, a microtubule inhibitor that directly affects chromosome segregation.

The real surprise was radicicol, a drug that induces proteotoxic stress by inhibiting a chaperone protein, recalls Chen. "Even at a concentration that barely slows down growth, radicicol induced extremely high levels of chromosome instability within a very short period of time," he says.

Continued growth of yeast cells in the presence of radicicol led to the emergence of drug-resistant colonies that had acquired an additional copy of chromosome XV. Yeast cells pretreated briefly with radicicol to induce genomic instability also adapted more efficiently to the presence of other drugs including fluconazole, tunicamycin, or benomyl, when compared to euploid cells.

Interestingly, certain chromosome combinations dominated in colonies that were resistant to a specific drug. Fluconazole-resistant colonies typically gained an extra copy of chromosome VIII, tunicamycin-resistant colonies tended to lose chromosome XVI, while a majority of benomyl-resistant colonies got rid of chromosome XII. "This suggested to us that specific karyotypes are associated with resistance to certain drugs," says Chen.

Digging deeper, Chen grew tunicamycin-resistant yeast cells, which had adapted to the presence of the antibiotic by losing one copy of chromosome XVI, under drug-free conditions. Before long, colonies of two distinct sizes emerged. He quickly discovered that the faster growing colonies had regained the missing chromosome. By returning to a normal chromosome XVI number, these newly arisen euploid cells had acquired a distinctive growth advantage over their aneuploid neighbors. But most importantly, the fast growing yeast cells were no longer resistant to tunicamycin and thus clearly linking tunicamycin resistance to the loss of chromosome XVI.

###

Researchers who also contributed to the work include William D. Bradford and Chris W. Seidel both at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

The study was funded in part by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

About the Stowers Institute for Medical Research

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research is a non-profit, basic biomedical research organization dedicated to improving human health by studying the fundamental processes of life. Jim Stowers, founder of American Century Investments, and his wife Virginia opened the Institute in 2000. Since then, the Institute has spent over 800 million dollars in pursuit of its mission.

Currently the Institute is home to over 500 researchers and support personnel; over 20 independent research programs; and more than a dozen technology development and core facilities. Learn more about the Institute at www.stowers.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


That which does not kill yeast makes it stronger [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Gina Kirchweger
gxk@stowers.org
816-806-1036
Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Stress-induced genomic instability facilitates rapid cellular adaption in yeast

KANSAS CITY, MO Cells trying to keep pace with constantly changing environmental conditions need to strike a fine balance between maintaining their genomic integrity and allowing enough genetic flexibility to adapt to inhospitable conditions. In their latest study, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research were able to show that under stressful conditions yeast genomes become unstable, readily acquiring or losing whole chromosomes to enable rapid adaption.

The research, published in the January 29, 2012, advance online issue of Nature, demonstrates that stress itself can increase the pace of evolution by increasing the rate of chromosomal instability or aneuploidy. The observation of stress-induced chromosome instability casts the molecular mechanisms driving cellular evolution into a new perspective and may help explain how cancer cells elude the body's natural defense mechanisms or the toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs.

"Cells employ intricate control mechanisms to maintain genomic stability and prevent abnormal chromosome numbers," says the study's leader, Stowers investigator Rong Li, Ph.D. "We found that under stress cellular mechanisms ensuring chromosome transmission fidelity are relaxed to allow the emergence of progeny cells with diverse aneuploid chromosome numbers, producing a population with large genetic variation."

Known as adaptive genetic change, the concept of stress-induced genetic variation first emerged in bacteria and departs from a long-held basic tenet of evolutionary theory, which holds that genetic diversityevolution's raw material from which natural selection picks the best choice under any given circumstancearises independently of hostile environmental conditions.

"From an evolutionary standpoint it is a very interesting finding," says graduate student and first author Guangbo Chen. "It shows how stress itself can help cells adapt to stress by inducing chromosomal instability."

Aneuploidy is most often associated with cancer and developmental defects and has recently been shown to reduce cellular fitness. Yet, an abnormal number of chromosomes is not necessarily a bad thing. Many wild yeast strains and their commercial cousins used to make bread or brew beer have adapted to their living environs by rejiggering the number of chromosomes they carry. "Euploid cells are optimized to thrive under 'normal' conditions," says Li. "In stressful environments aneuploid cells can quickly gain the upper hand when it comes to finding creative solutions to roadblocks they encounter in their environment."

After Li and her team had shown in an earlier Nature study that aneuploidy can confer a growth advantage on cells when they are exposed to many different types of stress conditions, the Stowers researchers wondered whether stress itself could increase the chromosome segregation error rate.

To find out, Chen exposed yeast cells to different chemicals that induce various types of general stress and assessed the loss of an artificial chromosome. This initial screen revealed that many stress conditions, including oxidative stress, increased the rate of chromosome loss ten to 20-fold, a rate typically observed when cells are treated with benomyl, a microtubule inhibitor that directly affects chromosome segregation.

The real surprise was radicicol, a drug that induces proteotoxic stress by inhibiting a chaperone protein, recalls Chen. "Even at a concentration that barely slows down growth, radicicol induced extremely high levels of chromosome instability within a very short period of time," he says.

Continued growth of yeast cells in the presence of radicicol led to the emergence of drug-resistant colonies that had acquired an additional copy of chromosome XV. Yeast cells pretreated briefly with radicicol to induce genomic instability also adapted more efficiently to the presence of other drugs including fluconazole, tunicamycin, or benomyl, when compared to euploid cells.

Interestingly, certain chromosome combinations dominated in colonies that were resistant to a specific drug. Fluconazole-resistant colonies typically gained an extra copy of chromosome VIII, tunicamycin-resistant colonies tended to lose chromosome XVI, while a majority of benomyl-resistant colonies got rid of chromosome XII. "This suggested to us that specific karyotypes are associated with resistance to certain drugs," says Chen.

Digging deeper, Chen grew tunicamycin-resistant yeast cells, which had adapted to the presence of the antibiotic by losing one copy of chromosome XVI, under drug-free conditions. Before long, colonies of two distinct sizes emerged. He quickly discovered that the faster growing colonies had regained the missing chromosome. By returning to a normal chromosome XVI number, these newly arisen euploid cells had acquired a distinctive growth advantage over their aneuploid neighbors. But most importantly, the fast growing yeast cells were no longer resistant to tunicamycin and thus clearly linking tunicamycin resistance to the loss of chromosome XVI.

###

Researchers who also contributed to the work include William D. Bradford and Chris W. Seidel both at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

The study was funded in part by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

About the Stowers Institute for Medical Research

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research is a non-profit, basic biomedical research organization dedicated to improving human health by studying the fundamental processes of life. Jim Stowers, founder of American Century Investments, and his wife Virginia opened the Institute in 2000. Since then, the Institute has spent over 800 million dollars in pursuit of its mission.

Currently the Institute is home to over 500 researchers and support personnel; over 20 independent research programs; and more than a dozen technology development and core facilities. Learn more about the Institute at www.stowers.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/sifm-twd012512.php

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Irish voters would back EU fiscal treaty: poll (Reuters)

DUBLIN (Reuters) ? Irish voters would narrowly back a proposed European Union treaty to tighten budget rules if it was put to a referendum, an opinion poll showed on Saturday, but a quarter of those questioned said they were still undecided.

European leaders are expected to agree on the fiscal compact on Monday in a bid to regain market confidence in the public finances of the 17 countries sharing the euro.

Irish citizens, who are entitled to vote on any major transfers of powers to Brussels, are seen as one of the biggest obstacles to overhaul of the bloc. They have twice rejected changes to EU treaties before voting through amended versions.

Forty percent of the 1,000 people questioned in the Sunday Business Post/Red C poll said they would vote in favor of the treaty, with 36 percent opposed. Twenty-four percent said they did not yet know how they would vote.

The government has said it will seek legal advice before deciding whether to hold a referendum, but 72 percent of those polled said the treaty should go to a vote.

EU officials agreed to the new treaty in December, aiming to push ahead with deeper economic integration and tackle a euro zone debt crisis.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Ben Harding)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/bs_nm/us_ireland_referendum

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'The Sting' actress Dimitra Arliss dies in LA (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Dimitra Arliss, who played a hired killer alongside Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the caper comedy "The Sting," has died in Los Angeles. She was 79.

Jaime Larkin, a spokesperson for the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital, says Arliss died Jan. 26 at the Woodland Hills facility of complications from a stroke.

The Ohio native began her acting career at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. On Broadway, Arliss starred opposite Stacy Keach in "Indians" and with Kevin Kline and John Malkovich in "Arms and the Man."

After appearing as a "hit lady" in the 1973 hit "The Sting," she was seen in "Xanadu," starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, and in Clint Eastwood's "Firefox."

Her numerous television credits include "Dallas," "Quincy M.E.," and "Rich Man, Poor Man."

Arliss is survived by a sister.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_en_mo/us_obit_dimitra_arliss

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Tech stocks: Growth ahead for handheld game consoles

Tech stocks subsector face growing competition from mobile phones and tablets. But one tech stocks analysts sees up to 20 percent revenue growth in 2012 for makers of handheld game consoles.?

The market for handheld devices may be getting squeezed by competition from mobile gaming platforms like smartphones and tablet PCs, but research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) is predicting further growth for the sector and expects revenues to jump as much as 20 percent this year, after single-digit percentage growth in 2011.

Skip to next paragraph

According to IDC's research manager for gaming Lewis Ward, the experience that comes from playing handheld devices is unique to users, and adds that the short battery lifespan in mobile gaming devices will always give its handheld console rivals an edge.

?"I think the stereoscopic 3D effect [in handheld devices] is quite compelling in many respects," Ward told CNBC on Thursday. ?Obviously Nintendo has some extraordinary IP, Pokemon, and many other titles which are unique to the platform and therefore provides an experience you simply can't get somewhere else.?

??One of the important drivers for adult gamers in particular is the ability to save your battery life on your cellphone and therefore make a dedicated handheld that much more attractive,? he added.

?A recent report from IDC projects the share of video gaming revenue for handheld console devices and their related software will fall to 59 percent in 2015, compared to the current 66 percent, as more users shift to the mobile gaming platform. Even so, Ward is predicting growth for the sector.

?"I'm anticipating growth in dedicated handhelds and console gaming in 2012," Ward said. "The market has been going sideways in many respects for the past couple of years, but I'm expecting some respectable results in the fourth quarter from major providers."?

?Tech heavyweight?Microsoft?beat analyst expectations in its fourth quarter earnings last week, helped by strong sales of its Xbox consoles.?Sony, which reports next week, is expected to barely break even in the lucrative October-December quarter, although Ward expects its handheld gaming unit do well this year when its latest PlayStation Vita console rolls out in the American and European markets in February.

Gaming giant?Nintendo, meanwhile,?forecasts a $580 million operating loss for the full year to March 31, after posting a 61 percent drop in third quarter operating profit?on Thursday. The company also cut its forecast for its latest 3DS handheld console to 14 million units from 16 million after poor sales.

?While investors have questioned the outlook for Nintendo on reports its chief gaming architect Shigeru Miyamoto is stepping down, Ward says the concerns are overblown.

??My understanding is that there's been a lot of grooming going on over the years and there's a lot of very talented people within Nintendo and I fully expect that the legacy will continue. I believe its in good hands in many respects,? he noted.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/M8s8ydKVHvY/Tech-stocks-Growth-ahead-for-handheld-game-consoles

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Huge asteroid may be packed with water ice

The surface of Vesta ? the second-largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter ? appears to be quite dry. But water ice may lurk underground over roughly half of the huge space rock's area, particularly near the poles, researchers said.

The giant asteroid Vesta may contain a vast supply of water ice, a supply that has sat frozen for billions of years, a new study reveals.

Skip to next paragraph

The?surface of Vesta?? the second-largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter ? appears to be quite dry. But water ice may lurk underground over roughly half of the huge space rock's area, particularly near the poles, researchers said. And it may have been there for billions of years.

"Near the north and south poles, the conditions appear to be favorable for?water ice?to exist beneath the surface," study co-author Timothy Stubbs,? of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement.

Asteroid ice underground?

Vesta has an average diameter of about 330 miles (530 kilometers). It probably doesn't have any permanently shadowed craters where water ice could stay frozen at the surface, researchers said. [NASA Photos of Asteroid Vesta]

That's because the asteroid is tilted on its axis at about 27 degrees,?giving Vesta seasons?akin to the ones we experience on Earth. So every part of the space rock's surface likely sees the sun at some point during a Vestan year.

However, the research team ? using models based on data gathered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other instruments ? determined that average annual temperatures near Vesta's poles are probably less than minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 129 degrees Celsius). Below this threshhold, water ice is thought to be able to survive in the top 10 feet (3 meters) or so of Vestan soil, or regolith.

The average temperatures near Vesta's equator, however, are roughly minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 123 Celsius), according to the study ? too high to allow water to remain within a few meters of the surface.

This band of relatively warm temperatures extends from the equator to about 27 degrees north and south latitude, researchers said.

"On average, it's colder at Vesta's poles than near its equator, so in that sense, they are good places to sustain water ice," Stubbs said. "But they also see sunlight for long periods of time during the summer seasons, which isn't so good for sustaining ice. So if water ice exists in those regions, it may be buried beneath a relatively deep layer of dry regolith."

Water ice might be stable at the bottom of some craters for much of the Vestan year (about 3.6 Earth years), the study found. But at some point during the summer, sunlight would probably drive it off the surface, either to be lost into space or redeposited somewhere else on the asteroid.

A spacecraft's view of Vesta

Modeling results such as those presented in the new study could soon be vetted by a robotic visitor to Vesta.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft?entered into orbit around the huge space rock in July 2011 and has been studying it ever since. Part of the probe's work involves searching for water with its gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) spectrometer, and Dawn recently spiraled close enough to Vesta to get a good look.

"The Dawn mission gives researchers a rare opportunity to observe Vesta for an extended period of time, the equivalent of about one season on Vesta," Stubbs said. "Hopefully, we'll know in the next few months whether the GRaND spectrometer sees evidence for water ice in Vesta's regolith."

Dawn will stay at Vesta until July, when it will depart and journey to Ceres, the largest object in the?asteroid belt. It should arrive there in February 2015.

Both Vesta and Ceres are so large that scientists consider them protoplanets ? baby planets whose growth was interrupted when Jupiter formed. Scientists hope Dawn's observations shed light on the role water has played in the evolution of planets.

"Our perceptions of Vesta have been transformed in a few months as the Dawn spacecraft has entered orbit and spiraled closer to its surface," said Lucy McFadden, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard and a Dawn mission co-investigator. "More importantly, our new views of Vesta tell us about the early processes of solar system formation. If we can detect evidence for water beneath the surface, the next question will be is it very old or very young, and that would be exciting to ponder."

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/v32_LX3SZ44/Huge-asteroid-may-be-packed-with-water-ice

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Australian PM stumbles before rowdy protest crowd (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia ? Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stumbled and was caught by a security guard as riot police helped her force a path through a crowd of rowdy protesters following a ceremony to mark Australia's national day Thursday.

She appeared distressed as she was pulled away from the protesters but was unharmed. She later remarked that she was made of "pretty tough stuff" and commended police for their actions.

Some 200 supporters of indigenous rights had surrounded a Canberra restaurant and banged its windows while Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott were inside officiating at an award ceremony.

Around 50 police escorted the political leaders from a side door to a car. Gillard stumbled, losing a shoe. Her personal security guard wrapped his arms around her and supported her to the waiting car, shielding her from the angry crowd.

The protesters had been demonstrating for indigenous rights nearby at the so-called Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a ramshackle collection of tents and temporary shelters in the national capital that is a center point of protests against Australia Day.

Australia Day marks the arrival of the first fleet of British colonists in Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788. Many Aborigines call it Invasion Day because the land was settled without a treaty with traditional owners.

Abbott appeared to be the target of protesters, who chanted "shame" and "racist" outside the restaurant.

The Tent Embassy celebrated its 40th anniversary on Thursday. Abbott had earlier angered indigenous activists by saying it was time the embassy "moved on."

Gillard was unharmed and later hosted another Australia Day function for foreign ambassadors at her official residence.

"The only thing that angers me is that it distracted from such a wonderful event," Gillard told reporters.

"I am made of pretty tough stuff and the police did a great job," she added.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_indigenous_protest

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Demi Moore seeks treatment for exhaustion (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A spokeswoman for Demi Moore says the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health.

Publicist Carrie Gordon says the decision is due to the stresses in Moore's life, and she looks forward to getting well.

Gordon did not release any other details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.

The past few months have been rocky for Moore. She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to Ashton Kutcher following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.

Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_demi_moore_seeks_treatment_exhaustion012632881/44293530/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/demi-moore-seeks-treatment-exhaustion-012632881.html

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UK refinery of Petroplus back in production (AP)

LONDON ? The British refinery owned by collapsed Swiss energy company Petroplus Holdings has resumed shipments to customers, while authorities in France are investigating possible misuse of funds by the company.

Delivery trucks were rolling Thursday from Coryton refinery near London ? which accounts for about 10 percent of Britain's refinery output ? for the first time since the British subsidiary was placed in administration two days earlier.

In the French city of Nanterre, an official said have opened an investigation into suspected bankruptcy through misuse of funds at a French unit of Petroplus.

The probe centers on suspicions that a bank account of Petroplus-France was stripped of about euro100 million ($129 million) in funds.

Petroplus said on Wednesday that it had begun various forms of insolvency proceedings in Switzerland, France and Germany.

The company said a court had appointed Jaffe Rechtsanwaelte Insolvenzverwalter as administrator of the German operations. In France, FHB Administrateurs Judiciaires is administering the Petroplus operations.

Petroplus said it had filed in Switzerland for composition proceedings, a form of bankruptcy in which the company claims it acted in good faith.

Petroplus, Europe's largest independent oil refiner, filed for insolvency after failing to agree with its lenders on its $1.75 billion credit line. The company reported a net loss of $413 million in the first nine months of last year.

The company had announced on Dec. 30 that it would temporarily shut down its French and Belgian refineries "given limited credit availability and the economic climate in Europe."

Trading in the Petroplus shares had been suspended on Monday.

Refinery profitability has been squeezed as operating expenses and the cost of crude oil rose faster than the value of the products, and the economic slowdown in Europe has added to the pressure.

A survey by energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie in 2010 found that 29 of 96 refineries in the European Union did not generate a positive net cash margin.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_petroplus

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Lytro open to partnering with smartphone makers, executive suggests

Now that its famed light field camera has finally become official, Lytro is looking to the future, with an eye, apparently, toward the cellphone market. During a recent interview with PC World, Lytro executive chairman Charles Chi described his company's new sensor in greater detail, and talked at length about its purportedly superior battery life. He also divulged a few hints about Lytro's roadmap. When asked whether the firm would ever license its technology to a smartphone manufacturer, Chi confirmed that Lytro has "the capital to do that, the capability in the company to do that, and... the vision to execute," before launching into an explanation of what it would take for such an initiative to succeed:

If we were to apply the technology in smartphones, that ecosystem is, of course, very complex, with some very large players there. It's an industry that's very different and driven based on operational excellence. For us to compete in there, we'd have to be a very different kind of company. So if we were to enter that space, it would definitely be through a partnership and a codevelopment of the technology, and ultimately some kind of licensing with the appropriate partner.

Far from a confirmation, to be sure, but it seems like the handset market is at least on Lytro's radar. Read the full Q&A at the link below.

Lytro open to partnering with smartphone makers, executive suggests originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePC World  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/lytro-camera-smartphone-licensing-partnership/

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Insight: Africa "black diamond" spenders show their luster (Reuters)

JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI (Reuters)- With a taste for Jimmy Choo shoes and Hermes handbags, Choice Okoro's idea of shopping is a world away from her mother's.

"My mother would not pay what I pay for shoes," said Okoro, a Nigerian professional in her late 30s as she prowled the sleek Westgate shopping mall in her adopted home of Nairobi.

"At my age, my mother had nine of us. The reality for Africa is that we are the new breed," she said. She spends an average of about $500 a month on clothing and shoes - a breathtaking sum in the world's poorest continent.

Although millions of Africans remain stuck in crushing poverty, the fast-growing continent is no longer defined solely by privation and disease. Luxury brand sellers are targeting the small but increasingly visible number of what South African retailers call "black diamonds," or affluent African professionals.

Their mushrooming aspirations for Hugo Boss suits, Prada sunglasses and Louis Vuitton purses is reminiscent of India and China more than a decade ago, experts say, although Africa still has a long haul to match Asia's roaring demand for bling.

Africa's population of people whose fortunes are large enough to qualify as "high net worth individuals" was the fastest growing in the world in 2009-2010, according to the latest annual report from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.

Of course, an exclusive band - usually of government elites - have for decades shopped in London, Paris and New York. Rising disposable incomes and the development of shiny new malls mean more Africans can now buy their luxury at home.

Sub-Saharan economies are among the fastest growing in the world. The region itself is expected to average 6 percent growth this year, driven by continued demand for oil and minerals.

Besides national commodity wealth, in South Africa many with ties to the ruling African National Congress have benefited from lucrative government contracts, or tenders, spawning a brash new elite known as "tenderpreneurs."

But serious money is still concentrated in the hands of a lucky few, meaning many buyers of luxury brands in Africa are "aspirational consumers," or shoppers who will splurge on a product even when they may not be able to afford it.

TAKING ON DEBT

"I'm not rich, but I have a few Gucci jeans," said David Zwane, a South African chartered accountant shopping in Sandton City, suburban Johannesburg's flagship upmarket mall.

"Rich is when you are able to eat sushi off half-naked women's bodies and pour expensive champagne on a crowd of people," he said, referring to a birthday party thrown by one South African businessman who was photographed in the media doing just that.

Dressed in a trim Lacoste T-shirt and fashionable jeans, Zwane said he had spent 10,000 rand ($1,200) on a silver Mont Blanc bracelet for his wife's Christmas present.

Africa's infatuation with expensive luxury brands is most visible in its cars: the potholed streets of Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg's Soweto township are increasingly home to Audis, BMWs and Mercedes-Benz.

Many consumers pay for big-ticket items with credit, which could pose a risk to the economy. "Luxury goods are a status symbol for Nigerians," said Edwards Efe, a 42-year-old telecom executive shopping for a Swatch watch and Polo cologne at The Palms, a shopping centre in Lagos.

"It doesn't have to do with your income, it has to do with the taste and class you want to associate with and that's why you find that sometimes we borrow to finance these things."

South Africa's central bank has repeatedly warned that debt levels are too high in the continent's biggest economy. Household debt currently stands at 75 percent of disposable income, the South African Reserve Bank said in December. For comparison, in Brazil, this ratio was 42.5 percent in October 2011.

On average, South Africans spend 7 percent of their disposable incomes just on servicing their debts. During a 2009 recession, banks were hit hard by ballooning bad debts at vehicle finance units.

LONG-TERM MARKET

Isabel Cavill, an analyst with research firm Planet Retail in London, expects affluent shoppers to continue to multiply in Africa, but much more slowly than in China and India: "We're looking at this as a very sort of long-term development."

For local shop managers, the steady growth in recent years has been noticeable. As recently as five years ago, some high-end stores in Johannesburg's Sandton City mall could go a full day without selling anything, according to several managers who spoke to Reuters. That's not the case now.

"We are seeing more and more people coming to shop. On average we get 30 customers per day," said one manager at the Sandton City branch of an international fashion house. But she added that less than half the visitors actually buy something.

Even smaller countries that are still reliant on foreign aid, such as Senegal, are starting to see more lavish shopping habits.

Dakar, the west African country's capital, is home to the $35 million Sea Plaza mall, opened in 2010, and the nearby Radisson Blu luxury hotel. The work of media-shy Senegalese businessman Yerim Sow, both sites have become top attractions and draw as many as 4,500 visitors on a busy day.

Part of Sow's idea behind Sea Plaza was to dispel the misconception that top-end commercial retail centers cannot succeed in sub-Saharan Africa, said Cheikh Saadbou Niang, the mall's head of administration.

Sea Plaza is home to fashion labels such as Hugo Boss, Mango and Guess, as well as haute couture apparel shops and high-end electronics stores. "It is like the Champs Elysees right here in Dakar," said one shopper walking to his car, trailed by a shop assistant carrying a 40-inch flat screen television.

OVERLOOKED COUNTRIES

In addition to Senegal, German fashion house Hugo Boss has established a presence in several other African countries that have been so far been overlooked by big-name global retailers such as Mozambique, Angola and Ivory Coast.

The brand has four stores in South Africa alone. Nearly 80 percent of the customers who visit its Sandton City branch are "black diamonds," reckons Surtee Sulimann, a brand manager.

"Some of them can spend $24,000 without blinking an eye," he said. "And we get a lot of people from Nigeria and Angola."

Other retailers are joining in. Zara, the popular label of Spain's Inditex, opened its first sub-Saharan store, in South Africa, late last year. Cape Town-based retailer Woolworths, which is similar in style and products to Britain's Marks and Spencer's, is aggressively ramping up its presence on the continent.

It aims to double the number of its African stores outside of South Africa to 120 by 2014, Chief Executive Ian Moir said last month. Target countries include Nigeria, Uganda, Mozambique and Kenya.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND CORRUPTION HURDLES

But global retailers face plenty of hurdles in Africa, particularly from the continent's notoriously poor infrastructure and widespread administrative corruption.

"It is very difficult to set up business in Africa, it's very difficult to import goods into Africa," said Joelle de Montgolfier, a director in Bain & Co.'s retail and luxury practice. "Once you get goods into ports, it's very difficult to get them out."

Africa's luxury market will face significant challenges to see anything close to the expansion of China's, de Montgolfier said. "China is a very unified market and Africa is 57 markets with different regulations. It's a bit more complex to do business in Africa."

That won't deter the millions of Africans who want to show off their new-found wealth, or at least look like big spenders. Many poorer South Africans buy counterfeit goods - fakes from Hong Kong known as Fong Kongs - that are sold on almost every street corner in major cities.

"I love Louis Vuitton bags but I can't afford the real thing," said a man dining at an upscale fast food restaurant in Soweto's Maponya Mall who gave his name as Mpho.

"It looks just like the real thing, but it's a 'Fong Kong.'"

($1 = 8.1562 South African rand)

(Additional reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha in Lagos, and Bate Felix in Johannesburg; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Sara Ledwith)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/lf_nm_life/us_africa_spenders_luxury

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Federer strolls into Australian Open quarterfinals

Roger Federer of Switzerland leaps for a smash as he plays Australia's Bernard Tomic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)

Roger Federer of Switzerland leaps for a smash as he plays Australia's Bernard Tomic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)

Belgium's Kim Clijsters falls over during her fourth round match against China's Li Na at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)

Belgium's Kim Clijsters receives treatment from a trainer during her fourth round match against China's Li Na at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)

China's Li Na makes a forehand return to Belgium's Kim Clijsters during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)

Belgium's Kim Clijsters makes a forehand return to China's Li Na during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)

(AP) ? The crowd was still buzzing about the comeback victory by "Aussie Kim" Clijsters, and the fans dressed in canary yellow were now in full voice for another one of their own.

Then along came Roger Federer to flatten their hopes.

Federer has won four of his record 16 Grand Slam singles titles on Rod Laver Arena, and on Sunday night he more or less held a clinic ? a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Bernard Tomic to reach the quarterfinals for a 31st consecutive major.

He played the 19-year-old Aussie at his own game, but raised it a level: mixing soft, angled drop shots that just cleared the net with crisp groundstrokes that hit the lines and ? for good measure ? a leaping, backhand overhead.

"It was like boxing in the beginning. You don't want to take too many chances," Federer said, explaining why there weren't any service breaks until the ninth game, when he produced two drop shots for winners with Tomic stranded in the backcourt. "Had one game when I was starting to feel better, next thing you know I'm up a break. Maybe I broke his will there a bit."

Federer's quarterfinal will be his 1,000th tour-level match. He plays 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, whom he once expected to rise to No. 1.

Clijsters, the defending champion, won despite limping on a badly sprained left ankle. She saved four match points in a tiebreaker en route to her 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 win in a rematch of the 2011 final against Li Na. That put the four-time Grand Slam winner on course for a quarterfinal against Caroline Wozniacki, who has held the year-end No. 1 ranking the last two seasons without winning a major.

Wozniacki is desperate to end her Grand Slam title drought, and improved her credentials marginally with a 6-0, 7-5 win over former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in the last match Sunday night.

"My confidence is high, my fitness is good, my play is improving and I'm very positive," Wozniacki said. "If I play like I did today, Kim will have to really play well to beat me."

Clijsters has been a longtime favorite in Australia, dating to her time as Lleyton Hewitt's fiancee. The Belgian is married now to Brian Lynch and has a child, but is still known endearingly as "Aussie Kim" ? a nickname she felt she truly earned only when she won the Australian title last year.

Clijsters came into the tournament with a hip injury. When she fell after spraining her ankle in the seventh game, there was concern her last Australian Open run might finish prematurely. She needed pain killers to get through the 2-hour, 23-minute match against Li. Now she's hoping ice treatment will help her recover in time for the quarterfinals.

"I knew if I could get through the 20 minutes, half hour (after the injury), I think the pain would go away a little bit and then maybe with the adrenaline I could just fly through it," she said. "I thought, 'I don't want to quit in my last time at the Australian Open.' I said in my mind, 'Keep fighting. You never know what happens on the other side of the court.'"

It turned out she was right.

Li, who won last year's French Open to become the first player from China to claim a Grand Slam singles title, was a set up and 6-2 in the tiebreaker. Her path to the quarterfinals seemed clear.

But her moments came and went. She had a chance to put Clijsters away with a big forehand but instead knocked a ball back across the net and was lobbed.

"Of course, I was nervous. If you're nervous, you could not think too much, right?" said Li, who broke down in tears in her post-match new conference. "Maybe 6-2 up in the tiebreak I was a little bit shocking."

Third-seeded Victoria Azarenka has flown under the radar so far, reaching the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Iveta Benesova. She will next meet eighth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.

There's been plenty of attention on Serena Williams, who will be aiming for her 18th consecutive win at Melbourne Park when she plays Ekaterina Makarova of Russia on Monday. She won the 2009 and 2010 Australian titles but was sidelined at this stage 12 months ago with injuries.

Novak Djokovic won the men's title last year, starting a season in which he captured three of the four majors and finished with the top ranking. He's in action Monday night against Hewitt, the gnarled veteran who is trying to end a drought that dates to 1976 for local men at the Australian Open.

After Federer beat Tomic, the 30-year-old Hewitt is the only Australian left in the singles draws. That didn't make Federer any less popular in Australia, where he's aiming to equal Roy Emerson's record of five Australian titles.

Federer's last win over Del Potro at Melbourne Park was the Argentine's worst in a Grand Slam.

Del Potro figures to be more dangerous this time after beating Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday.

He was sidelined for much of 2010 after wrist surgery, but improved his ranking from a low of No. 485 last January to his current position at No. 11.

"I missed him in that year when he got injured. I thought he had a chance for world No. 1 to be honest, he was playing that well. It's nice is to see him back."

If he can get past Del Potro, a possible semifinal against Rafael Nadal could await. They're in the same half of the draw for the first time since 2005.

Nadal had a convincing win over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez on Sunday. The 2009 champion's right knee was heavily wrapped and his left ankle needed to be taped after three games of the first set. Afterward, he said he was fine.

He next plays Tomas Berdych, hoping to avoid a third consecutive quarterfinal loss in Melbourne. He was injured in his last two quarterfinals, but says the knee should be OK this time.

"I had a bad experience last two years here," Nadal said. "It's tough have to go out of a tournament like Australia in quarterfinals."

Berdych beat Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), then was jeered by the crowd at Hisense Arena after he refused to shake hands with his Spanish rival. The Czech was upset that Almagro had hit the ball straight at him while he was at the net during the fourth set.

"I think when you have a point and someone wants to hit you straight to your face, I don't see this as a nice moment," Berdych said during a post-match TV interview. "This is not the way how tennis is."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-22-TEN-Australian-Open/id-37068ae52d7d49989f430cfa5acad119

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Anonymous' Tweet Asks People 'What to Hack Next' [Anonymous]

YourAnonNews' Twitter—currently the largest Anonymous account with 371,000 followers—recently posted this: "Just out of curiosity, what would YOU like to see #Anonymous hack next? Tweet and let us know." More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/hBb3jxAHDZM/anonymous-tweet-asks-people-what-to-hack-next

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New super-portable gaming desktop from Alienware -Destructoid


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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Warfare in 1912: A Look in Scientific American 's Archives [Slide Show]

Web Exclusives | Technology

Images of weapons technology from a century ago, two years before World War I broke out in Europe.

Image: Scientific American

These implements of warfare were developed to fill a perceived need or follow a specific doctrine. Some, such as the development of artillery, became a central facet during the Great War, the first ?total war? that involved all of its citizens, industries and scientific ingenuity.

? View the 1912 Weapons Technology Slide Show


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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ad909c52c731d27f791178a9eaf5d7c4

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Solar Swan Song: NASA Satellite Witnesses a Comet's Plunge into the Sun

News | Space

A sun-watching spacecraft has for the first time tracked a comet's path all the way into the solar atmosphere


Sun-diving comet breaks apart and vaporizesCOMETARY CATACLYSM: Imagery from the Solar Dynamics Observatory documents the demise of a comet plunging toward the sun. The comet streaked in from the right of the image. Image: ? Science/AAAS

As dramatic exits go, it's on par with Major T. J. "King" Kong riding a falling nuclear bomb like a rodeo bull at the end of Dr. Strangelove. A NASA spacecraft has documented a comet's demise as it plunged toward the sun at 600 kilometers per second, broke apart and vaporized inside the solar atmosphere.

The comet, known as C/2011 N3 (SOHO), met its fiery fate on July 6. The object's official name designates that it was discovered in early July 2011 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Many comets meet a similar end, but astronomers and solar physicists have never been able to track a comet's trajectory all the way into the depths of the solar corona, the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere.

With the help of another spacecraft?NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which was launched in 2010?a group of scientists were able to witness the final minutes of the comet's existence. The observations of C/2011 N3 as it broke apart allowed the researchers to estimate the comet's mass and the size of its nucleus; similar events in the future may provide clues about the origins of comets as well as probe conditions near the sun that are otherwise difficult to explore. The team of researchers published their findings in the January 20 issue of Science.

SOHO has discovered more than 2,000 comets near the sun, most of them thanks to the help of unpaid amateur astronomers who comb through imagery from the spacecraft. Most of the sun-grazing comets, like C/2011 N3, belong to the Kreutz family, which is thought to have originated from a single progenitor that broke apart within the past few thousand years. The smallest of these comets are destroyed by the sun before they draw too close, so C/2011 N3 was rather sizable for a Kreutz-family comet, with a nucleus 10 to 50 meters across.

"It must have been on the large side," says lead study author Carolus Schrijver, a solar physicist at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif. The comet's size contributed not only to its survival deep into the solar atmosphere but also to its receiving close scrutiny during the sunward plunge. "This was noted as a particularly bright one," Schrijver says. "That morning as it was approaching the sun I said, 'Well, let's see if we can see it.'"

An atmospheric imaging camera on SDO was indeed able to track the inbound comet, watching it bear down on the sun in an ultraviolet streak that lasted about 20 minutes before it disappeared. By that time the comet was only about 100,000 kilometers above the solar surface and had broken into a number of fragments, further hastening its vaporization.

"The temperatures [at that point] are so high that things are evaporating," says astronomer Matthew Knight of Lowell Observatory and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who did not contribute to the new study. "Not just gases and ices, but heavy elements."

The comet's total obliteration in the solar atmosphere let Schrijver and his colleagues estimate how much material was lost in the process. "Because it vanished, we could actually measure its mass," Schrijver says. The researchers estimate that the comet may have shed as much as 60 million kilograms of material in its plunge?about the mass of the Titanic. But the comet's composition is less clear. "We're still trying to understand what was glowing," he says. The imager used to track C/2011 N3 is most sensitive to iron, but Schrijver notes that the glow could also have been produced by carbon or oxygen.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=fcb17ee905ce5cab249f2b259206e097

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