Bowel screening and car park cancer scans: what you need to know about today’s NHS announcements

It’s a simple message: diagnose cancer earlier and treatment is more likely to be successful.

But doing this isn’t so simple.

That’s why a string of announcements from NHS chief, Simon Stevens, have made headlines today.

Stevens is launching a number of new ways that he says will help the NHS in England diagnose cancers earlier and improve cancer services. And they range from a refreshed commitment to updating bowel screening to an extended pilot project offering CT scans in supermarket car parks to people deemed at high risk of lung cancer.

NHS England showing ambition and commitment to diagnose cancer earlier is great news. And more lives will be saved if it works.

Here’s everything we know about today’s announcements.

Upgrading bowel screening

Stevens’ commitments echo what was laid out in England’s 2015-2020 cancer strategy, now 2 years old. One of these was to introduce a new, more sensitive test into the bowel screening programme called faecal immunochemical testing, or FIT for short.

So we’re pleased that Stevens has prioritised the NHS rolling out the new FIT test, which will be better at detecting blood in poo than the test used for bowel screening today – as invisible blood traces can be a sign of bowel cancer. This test is also easier for people to do at home. So we hope this means more people will take part in screening when the new test is rolled out, because at the moment only 56% of people do. The test will help spot changes that can develop into cancer if left untreated – called bowel polyps – in more people, depending on how sensitive it is.

Today’s announcement didn’t have any more detail on when exactly FIT will be introduced next year, or how the test’s sensitivity will be set to get most benefit.

Read more

What it takes for the NHS to diagnose cancer… and why it’s struggling

FIT has the potential to be made even more sensitive in the years to come. But with greater sensitivity comes a growing demand for further tests should screening detect abnormalities in more people. The NHS will need more trained staff to tackle this, so any ambition to make England’s bowel screening programme the best in the world must be matched by a commitment to increase the diagnostic workforce. It’s vital that there are enough staff in the NHS to carry out and interpret tests that can diagnose cancer, including more staff who do colonoscopies, if we’re to make FIT even better in the future.

Because of these workforce needs, we’ve been campaigning for the NHS to train and employ diagnostic staff. A cancer workforce plan is due to be published in December, so we’ll be looking for this problem to be fixed and more funding to achieve earlier diagnosis.

Research in the NHS

Of course, innovation like FIT is only possible with research. So we’re pleased that Stevens also made a strong statement in support of health research in the NHS. “The NHS has an outstanding track record in cancer research, as demonstrated by the number of innovations that have come from this country,” he said.

We hope that these proposals will speed up our ability to set up and run robust clinical trials, ultimately helping more cancer patients live longer and better lives.

The UK is a world-leader in clinical trials and it’s vital that we stay at the forefront. The recent Life Sciences Industrial Strategy set out how the UK can continue to build a thriving research environment. The NHS is a key component of this, so we’re pleased to see these steps taken.

Can we diagnose lung cancer earlier?

Another part of Stevens’ announcement was about scaling up a pilot project initially started in the North West. A few more locations will now start offering CT scans in supermarket car parks to people deemed at higher risk of lung cancer, such as current or ex-smokers. There isn’t a national lung screening programme in the UK, as it’s not recommended by the National Screening Committee. And research is ongoing to test the effects of scanning people who don’t have symptoms – assessing the benefits, risks and harms.

It’s important that new approaches in the NHS, such as increased use of lung checks, are guided by robust evidence and properly evaluated.

If you’re a smoker, the best advice we have for reducing your risk is to quit smoking. Stop Smoking Services provide smokers with support to quit and you can find your local service on the NHS website.

Making all patients’ experiences heard

Stevens also used his speech today to call for people from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds who are living with cancer to share their experiences of NHS cancer services, by responding to the Cancer Patient Experience Survey through its website. Again this echoes England’s cancer strategy, and we hope that in raising awareness of this challenge Stevens and those in the NHS can do more to reach everyone affected by cancer.

Seeing the NHS take steps that could diagnose more cancers at an earlier stage is something we can all get on board with. But making sure research and the best quality evidence underpins this is crucial, so that people across the UK can benefit.

Corrie Drumm is a policy advisor at Cancer Research UK

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog http://ift.tt/2hJIhfH

It’s a simple message: diagnose cancer earlier and treatment is more likely to be successful.

But doing this isn’t so simple.

That’s why a string of announcements from NHS chief, Simon Stevens, have made headlines today.

Stevens is launching a number of new ways that he says will help the NHS in England diagnose cancers earlier and improve cancer services. And they range from a refreshed commitment to updating bowel screening to an extended pilot project offering CT scans in supermarket car parks to people deemed at high risk of lung cancer.

NHS England showing ambition and commitment to diagnose cancer earlier is great news. And more lives will be saved if it works.

Here’s everything we know about today’s announcements.

Upgrading bowel screening

Stevens’ commitments echo what was laid out in England’s 2015-2020 cancer strategy, now 2 years old. One of these was to introduce a new, more sensitive test into the bowel screening programme called faecal immunochemical testing, or FIT for short.

So we’re pleased that Stevens has prioritised the NHS rolling out the new FIT test, which will be better at detecting blood in poo than the test used for bowel screening today – as invisible blood traces can be a sign of bowel cancer. This test is also easier for people to do at home. So we hope this means more people will take part in screening when the new test is rolled out, because at the moment only 56% of people do. The test will help spot changes that can develop into cancer if left untreated – called bowel polyps – in more people, depending on how sensitive it is.

Today’s announcement didn’t have any more detail on when exactly FIT will be introduced next year, or how the test’s sensitivity will be set to get most benefit.

Read more

What it takes for the NHS to diagnose cancer… and why it’s struggling

FIT has the potential to be made even more sensitive in the years to come. But with greater sensitivity comes a growing demand for further tests should screening detect abnormalities in more people. The NHS will need more trained staff to tackle this, so any ambition to make England’s bowel screening programme the best in the world must be matched by a commitment to increase the diagnostic workforce. It’s vital that there are enough staff in the NHS to carry out and interpret tests that can diagnose cancer, including more staff who do colonoscopies, if we’re to make FIT even better in the future.

Because of these workforce needs, we’ve been campaigning for the NHS to train and employ diagnostic staff. A cancer workforce plan is due to be published in December, so we’ll be looking for this problem to be fixed and more funding to achieve earlier diagnosis.

Research in the NHS

Of course, innovation like FIT is only possible with research. So we’re pleased that Stevens also made a strong statement in support of health research in the NHS. “The NHS has an outstanding track record in cancer research, as demonstrated by the number of innovations that have come from this country,” he said.

We hope that these proposals will speed up our ability to set up and run robust clinical trials, ultimately helping more cancer patients live longer and better lives.

The UK is a world-leader in clinical trials and it’s vital that we stay at the forefront. The recent Life Sciences Industrial Strategy set out how the UK can continue to build a thriving research environment. The NHS is a key component of this, so we’re pleased to see these steps taken.

Can we diagnose lung cancer earlier?

Another part of Stevens’ announcement was about scaling up a pilot project initially started in the North West. A few more locations will now start offering CT scans in supermarket car parks to people deemed at higher risk of lung cancer, such as current or ex-smokers. There isn’t a national lung screening programme in the UK, as it’s not recommended by the National Screening Committee. And research is ongoing to test the effects of scanning people who don’t have symptoms – assessing the benefits, risks and harms.

It’s important that new approaches in the NHS, such as increased use of lung checks, are guided by robust evidence and properly evaluated.

If you’re a smoker, the best advice we have for reducing your risk is to quit smoking. Stop Smoking Services provide smokers with support to quit and you can find your local service on the NHS website.

Making all patients’ experiences heard

Stevens also used his speech today to call for people from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds who are living with cancer to share their experiences of NHS cancer services, by responding to the Cancer Patient Experience Survey through its website. Again this echoes England’s cancer strategy, and we hope that in raising awareness of this challenge Stevens and those in the NHS can do more to reach everyone affected by cancer.

Seeing the NHS take steps that could diagnose more cancers at an earlier stage is something we can all get on board with. But making sure research and the best quality evidence underpins this is crucial, so that people across the UK can benefit.

Corrie Drumm is a policy advisor at Cancer Research UK

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog http://ift.tt/2hJIhfH

Flowing sand, not water, on Mars

Recurring slope lineae on Mars, via Giphy.com/nasa

As earthlings have begun to explore Mars with our robot spacecraft in orbit and on the ground, one of the most fascinating features we’ve found are the recurring slope lineae. They can be seen on Mars as long dark streaks, which expand in the martian summertime and then retract again. They’ve been discussed as possible evidence for liquid water, seeping or flowing on Mars today. New research – published November 20, 2017 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, now suggests this is not so. The steepness of more than 150 of these features has now been assessed with a powerful telescopic camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The streaks are now being interpreted as grains of sand and dust slipping downhill, rather than as ground being darkened by seeping water.

The new evidence shows the streaks exist only on slopes steep enough for dry grains to descend, much as they do on the faces of active sand dunes.

This inner slope of a crater on southern Mars has several of the seasonal dark streaks known as recurrent slope lineae, or RSL. Once thought to be possible signs of flowing water on Mars, a November 2017 study interprets them as due to flowing sand. This 2011 view near the top of the southern rim of Tivat Crater comes from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The view spans an area about 1,000 feet (300 meters) wide. Read more about this image.

Planetary Science Institute senior scientist Jim McElwaine is a co-author on the new paper. He commented:

The recurring slope lineae on Mars behave in a similar way to laboratory experiments on Earth. What is still not understood is where the supply of fresh material comes from, though we do have some speculative ideas.

Since water means life as we know it, the finding has implications for the continuing search for life on Mars today. The scientists’ statement said:

These new findings indicate that present-day Mars may not have a significant volume of liquid water. The water-restricted conditions that exist on Mars would make it difficult for Earth-like life to exist near the surface of the planet.

U.S. Geological Survey scientist Colin Dundas, who is lead author on the new paper, confirmed:

We’ve thought of recurring slope lineae as possible liquid water flows, but they seem to act more like dry sand. This suggests that the surface of Mars is quite dry today.

Read more from Planetary Science Institute, USGS and NASA JPL.

Dark narrow streaks called recurring slope lineae emanating out of the walls of Garni crater on Mars. Image via NASA/ JPL/ University of Arizona.

Here are more recurring slope lineae, in this case some 100 meters long. Evocative … aren’t they? Image via NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.

Bottom line: The dark streaks on Mars known as recurring slope lineae are likely the result of repeated avalanches of sand and dust, rather than seeping water, new research shows.

Source: Granular flows at recurring slope lineae on Mars indicate a limited role for liquid water

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2iDeKFi

Recurring slope lineae on Mars, via Giphy.com/nasa

As earthlings have begun to explore Mars with our robot spacecraft in orbit and on the ground, one of the most fascinating features we’ve found are the recurring slope lineae. They can be seen on Mars as long dark streaks, which expand in the martian summertime and then retract again. They’ve been discussed as possible evidence for liquid water, seeping or flowing on Mars today. New research – published November 20, 2017 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, now suggests this is not so. The steepness of more than 150 of these features has now been assessed with a powerful telescopic camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The streaks are now being interpreted as grains of sand and dust slipping downhill, rather than as ground being darkened by seeping water.

The new evidence shows the streaks exist only on slopes steep enough for dry grains to descend, much as they do on the faces of active sand dunes.

This inner slope of a crater on southern Mars has several of the seasonal dark streaks known as recurrent slope lineae, or RSL. Once thought to be possible signs of flowing water on Mars, a November 2017 study interprets them as due to flowing sand. This 2011 view near the top of the southern rim of Tivat Crater comes from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The view spans an area about 1,000 feet (300 meters) wide. Read more about this image.

Planetary Science Institute senior scientist Jim McElwaine is a co-author on the new paper. He commented:

The recurring slope lineae on Mars behave in a similar way to laboratory experiments on Earth. What is still not understood is where the supply of fresh material comes from, though we do have some speculative ideas.

Since water means life as we know it, the finding has implications for the continuing search for life on Mars today. The scientists’ statement said:

These new findings indicate that present-day Mars may not have a significant volume of liquid water. The water-restricted conditions that exist on Mars would make it difficult for Earth-like life to exist near the surface of the planet.

U.S. Geological Survey scientist Colin Dundas, who is lead author on the new paper, confirmed:

We’ve thought of recurring slope lineae as possible liquid water flows, but they seem to act more like dry sand. This suggests that the surface of Mars is quite dry today.

Read more from Planetary Science Institute, USGS and NASA JPL.

Dark narrow streaks called recurring slope lineae emanating out of the walls of Garni crater on Mars. Image via NASA/ JPL/ University of Arizona.

Here are more recurring slope lineae, in this case some 100 meters long. Evocative … aren’t they? Image via NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.

Bottom line: The dark streaks on Mars known as recurring slope lineae are likely the result of repeated avalanches of sand and dust, rather than seeping water, new research shows.

Source: Granular flows at recurring slope lineae on Mars indicate a limited role for liquid water

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2iDeKFi

What monarch butterflies prefer

Monarch butterfly on a milkweed flower. Image courtesy of Ryan Norris, University of Guelph.

In the past 20 years, the eastern North American monarch butterfly population – a beautiful and majestic butterfly species, beloved by many throughout North America – has plunged by 95%, bringing them dangerously closer to extinction. One strategy to help save the butterflies has been to plant more milkweeds. That’s because, each spring in North America, as monarch butterflies venture north from their wintering grounds, they lay their eggs exclusively on milkweeds, which are the only plants that their caterpillars can eat. But the strategy for milkweed planting has involved roadside parks. And new research reveals that eastern North American monarch butterflies lay three-and-a-half times more eggs on milkweeds located on farmland, in contrast to milkweeds growing along roadsides or in natural areas or urban gardens.

The same new research also shows that the butterflies prefer laying their eggs in small milkweed patches over large ones.

These findings are published in the peer-reviewed journal Biological Conservation. They stem from a two-year survey of monarch egg-laying preferences by graduate student Grace Pitman and her professor, ecologist Ryan Norris at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and by conservation biologist Tyler Flockhart at the University of Maryland.

Pitman, the paper’s lead author, said in a press release:

Female monarchs are likely attracted to agricultural lands because it is easier for them to locate the milkweed growing there. Monarchs use chemical receptors in their antennae to detect milkweed. It may be easier for them to locate the plant in croplands where it is surrounded by monocultures so there is lower diversity.

She also suggested that smaller milkweed patches had higher egg densities because female monarchs likely used them to avoid male monarchs:

The males like to hang out in the larger patches and wait for the females. They tend to harrass them, and if the females are looking to lay their eggs, they don’t want to be harassed.

Roadside milkweeds, on the other hand, were found to have the lowest number of eggs. Ryan Norris commented that the reasons for this were not clear; did the butterflies simply avoid urban roadsides or was it due to the harsher conditions of those locations? He said:

There are a lot of factors that put the monarchs and their eggs and adult females at risk, including getting hit by cars, road salt and the frequent cutting of vegetation.

Norris also remarked, about the team’s discovery that monarchs prefer small milkweed patches in farmland:

These findings are significant given that there are currently initiatives under way that involve planting milkweed to help the survival of this butterfly. In some cases, the focus is on roadside planting, which based on these findings is not an ideal location.

A more effective strategy would be to develop incentive programs with landowners to plant and maintain milkweed within agricultural landscapes.

Monarch caterpillar on swamp milkweed. Image by Shireen Gonzaga.

Monarch butterflies in eastern North America undergo long migratory journeys, as much as 3,000 miles. Most overwinter in forests in central Mexico.

In spring, the year’s founding generation moves northward, mating, laying their eggs, then dying. The next generation picks up the next leg of the journey, repeating the butterfly’s life cycle: hatching from an egg, going through its caterpillar stage, undergoing its dramatic transformation in its chrysalis, and finally emerging as a butterfly. This goes on up until the fourth generation.

The first, second, and third generations each have a two- to six-week lifespan, depending on weather conditions. The fourth generation, the final generation of the year, has a nine month lifespan. In late summer, this generation undertakes an extraordinary southward migration over thousands of miles, returning to the wintering grounds of their great-great-great-great grandparents; many of these monarchs spend the winter months roosting in dense colonies in a small area in the mountain forests of central Mexico. On the west coast, monarchs embark on a similar long-distance migration, wintering in forests along the southern California coast.

Monarch butterfly just hours from emerging from its chrysalis. Image by Shireen Gonzaga.

Monarch populations in eastern and western North America have undergone significant decline in the past two decades. Habitat loss, due to logging in their Mexico wintering grounds and development in southern California, is one reason. Along their migratory paths, monarch caterpillars face food shortages due to the destruction of milkweed plants in farmlands that use herbicide-resistant crops, and the butterflies themselves are killed by pesticides. There is also concern about the effect that climate change has on the breeding cycle and winter survival of monarch butterflies.

Swamp milkweed seeds, attached to white filament tufts that easily make them airborne. Image by Shireen Gonzaga.

Bottom line: A recent study shows that eastern North American monarch butterflies lay three-and-a-half times more eggs on milkweeds in farmland compared to milkweeds in roadsides, natural areas, and urban gardens. An effective strategy to help save the butterflies from extinction might be to develop incentive programs with landowners to plant and maintain milkweed within agricultural landscapes.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2mOOrAe

Monarch butterfly on a milkweed flower. Image courtesy of Ryan Norris, University of Guelph.

In the past 20 years, the eastern North American monarch butterfly population – a beautiful and majestic butterfly species, beloved by many throughout North America – has plunged by 95%, bringing them dangerously closer to extinction. One strategy to help save the butterflies has been to plant more milkweeds. That’s because, each spring in North America, as monarch butterflies venture north from their wintering grounds, they lay their eggs exclusively on milkweeds, which are the only plants that their caterpillars can eat. But the strategy for milkweed planting has involved roadside parks. And new research reveals that eastern North American monarch butterflies lay three-and-a-half times more eggs on milkweeds located on farmland, in contrast to milkweeds growing along roadsides or in natural areas or urban gardens.

The same new research also shows that the butterflies prefer laying their eggs in small milkweed patches over large ones.

These findings are published in the peer-reviewed journal Biological Conservation. They stem from a two-year survey of monarch egg-laying preferences by graduate student Grace Pitman and her professor, ecologist Ryan Norris at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and by conservation biologist Tyler Flockhart at the University of Maryland.

Pitman, the paper’s lead author, said in a press release:

Female monarchs are likely attracted to agricultural lands because it is easier for them to locate the milkweed growing there. Monarchs use chemical receptors in their antennae to detect milkweed. It may be easier for them to locate the plant in croplands where it is surrounded by monocultures so there is lower diversity.

She also suggested that smaller milkweed patches had higher egg densities because female monarchs likely used them to avoid male monarchs:

The males like to hang out in the larger patches and wait for the females. They tend to harrass them, and if the females are looking to lay their eggs, they don’t want to be harassed.

Roadside milkweeds, on the other hand, were found to have the lowest number of eggs. Ryan Norris commented that the reasons for this were not clear; did the butterflies simply avoid urban roadsides or was it due to the harsher conditions of those locations? He said:

There are a lot of factors that put the monarchs and their eggs and adult females at risk, including getting hit by cars, road salt and the frequent cutting of vegetation.

Norris also remarked, about the team’s discovery that monarchs prefer small milkweed patches in farmland:

These findings are significant given that there are currently initiatives under way that involve planting milkweed to help the survival of this butterfly. In some cases, the focus is on roadside planting, which based on these findings is not an ideal location.

A more effective strategy would be to develop incentive programs with landowners to plant and maintain milkweed within agricultural landscapes.

Monarch caterpillar on swamp milkweed. Image by Shireen Gonzaga.

Monarch butterflies in eastern North America undergo long migratory journeys, as much as 3,000 miles. Most overwinter in forests in central Mexico.

In spring, the year’s founding generation moves northward, mating, laying their eggs, then dying. The next generation picks up the next leg of the journey, repeating the butterfly’s life cycle: hatching from an egg, going through its caterpillar stage, undergoing its dramatic transformation in its chrysalis, and finally emerging as a butterfly. This goes on up until the fourth generation.

The first, second, and third generations each have a two- to six-week lifespan, depending on weather conditions. The fourth generation, the final generation of the year, has a nine month lifespan. In late summer, this generation undertakes an extraordinary southward migration over thousands of miles, returning to the wintering grounds of their great-great-great-great grandparents; many of these monarchs spend the winter months roosting in dense colonies in a small area in the mountain forests of central Mexico. On the west coast, monarchs embark on a similar long-distance migration, wintering in forests along the southern California coast.

Monarch butterfly just hours from emerging from its chrysalis. Image by Shireen Gonzaga.

Monarch populations in eastern and western North America have undergone significant decline in the past two decades. Habitat loss, due to logging in their Mexico wintering grounds and development in southern California, is one reason. Along their migratory paths, monarch caterpillars face food shortages due to the destruction of milkweed plants in farmlands that use herbicide-resistant crops, and the butterflies themselves are killed by pesticides. There is also concern about the effect that climate change has on the breeding cycle and winter survival of monarch butterflies.

Swamp milkweed seeds, attached to white filament tufts that easily make them airborne. Image by Shireen Gonzaga.

Bottom line: A recent study shows that eastern North American monarch butterflies lay three-and-a-half times more eggs on milkweeds in farmland compared to milkweeds in roadsides, natural areas, and urban gardens. An effective strategy to help save the butterflies from extinction might be to develop incentive programs with landowners to plant and maintain milkweed within agricultural landscapes.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2mOOrAe

Fern, contrail shadow, singing dunes

Fern Zalin Jones at Kelso Dunes on November 11, 2017. She wrote: “That is me, triumphant!” See the contrail shadow in the background? Photo by Greg Lewis.

Did you know that contrails can cast shadows? Fern Zalin Jones wrote with a question about contrail shadows, which you can see in the images both above and below. While we were emailing, Fern happened to attach the image above, showing her ascent of a dune at Kelso Dunes, and she mentioned that these are “singing” or “booming” dunes. According to Wikipedia:

Enthusiasts sometimes climb to the top of the dunes and slide down slowly, generating a low-frequency rumble that can be both felt and heard.

So … two interesting natural phenomena in one photo. Fern wrote:

I love that you can see the shadow of the contrail on the cloud. The 1.5-mile hike up to the top of the dune was a slog, but worth every arduous step because the dunes ‘sang’ (really!) with each step on the way down.

Quite a thrill.

Thank you, Fern!

Contrail shadow – November 11, 2017 – via Fern Zalin Jones.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2jKhyDW

Fern Zalin Jones at Kelso Dunes on November 11, 2017. She wrote: “That is me, triumphant!” See the contrail shadow in the background? Photo by Greg Lewis.

Did you know that contrails can cast shadows? Fern Zalin Jones wrote with a question about contrail shadows, which you can see in the images both above and below. While we were emailing, Fern happened to attach the image above, showing her ascent of a dune at Kelso Dunes, and she mentioned that these are “singing” or “booming” dunes. According to Wikipedia:

Enthusiasts sometimes climb to the top of the dunes and slide down slowly, generating a low-frequency rumble that can be both felt and heard.

So … two interesting natural phenomena in one photo. Fern wrote:

I love that you can see the shadow of the contrail on the cloud. The 1.5-mile hike up to the top of the dune was a slog, but worth every arduous step because the dunes ‘sang’ (really!) with each step on the way down.

Quite a thrill.

Thank you, Fern!

Contrail shadow – November 11, 2017 – via Fern Zalin Jones.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2jKhyDW

Come to know the Pleiades, or 7 Sisters

Tonight, look for the tiny, misty dipper of stars known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. The image at top – from Krishnan Subramanian near Mumbai, India – shows a laser pointer indicating its location. Krishnan wrote:

The Pleiades star cluster is also called Krithika in India. Photo taken from Neral near Mumbai … The event was a stargazing night to see Leonids and also to know more about the galaxies, constellations and stars.

November is the month of the Pleiades star cluster. On these November nights, the Pleiades cluster shines from nightfall until dawn. It’s low in the east at nightfall, high overhead around midnight and low in the west before dawn. Locate it by the bright star Aldebaran this evening, or any evening soon.

You can view the Pleiades with either the unaided eye or an optical aid, on these November nights. The Pleiades cluster is one of the most recognizable star patterns in the night sky. Its six brightest stars do look like a little dipper. In fact, people in the Northern Hemisphere often mistake the Pleiades for the real Little Dipper asterism, which is located farther north on the sky’s dome. The misty-looking dipper of the Pleiades hovers over the northeastern horizon as darkness falls. It moves across the night sky from east to west, much like the sun does during the day.

Do you love stargazing? Order an EarthSky planisphere

EarthSky community member Greg Hogan captured this image of the Pleiades in November, 2015.

By the way, another name for the Pleiades is the Seven Sisters. But if you look with your eye alone, it’s likely you’ll only see six stars in the Pleiades. Some old Greek legends explore what might have happened to the missing sister, sometimes called the Lost Pleiad.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Pleiades’ all night appearance coincides with late autumn. As this part of the world moves toward winter, it’s easy to imagine the Pleiades as a frosty patch on the dome of night. But in the Southern Hemisphere now, where spring flowers are blooming, this cluster of nocturnal suns watches over the season of awakening and agriculture. In South Africa, for example, the Pleiades are called the hoeing-stars.

Yearly, on or near November 21, the Pleiades cluster culminates – reaches its highest point in the sky – at midnight. (In this instance, midnight means midway between sunset and sunrise.) Historically, the midnight culmination of the Pleiades was very significant to many ancient and primitive peoples. Some of these Pleiades midnight celebrations still linger into the present, such as the old Druid rite of Halloween. Although the midnight culmination date for the Pleiades advances over the long course of time, the date of Halloween has remained fixed by tradition.

Tom Wildoner of LeisurelyScientist.com captured this image of the Pleiades on October 31, 2016.

Bottom line: Watch for the sky’s most celebrated star cluster – the Pleiades – a tiny, misty dipper-shaped star cluster adorning the sky all night long on these November nights.

More about the Pleiades: Famous Seven Sisters

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1QtLMmN

Tonight, look for the tiny, misty dipper of stars known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. The image at top – from Krishnan Subramanian near Mumbai, India – shows a laser pointer indicating its location. Krishnan wrote:

The Pleiades star cluster is also called Krithika in India. Photo taken from Neral near Mumbai … The event was a stargazing night to see Leonids and also to know more about the galaxies, constellations and stars.

November is the month of the Pleiades star cluster. On these November nights, the Pleiades cluster shines from nightfall until dawn. It’s low in the east at nightfall, high overhead around midnight and low in the west before dawn. Locate it by the bright star Aldebaran this evening, or any evening soon.

You can view the Pleiades with either the unaided eye or an optical aid, on these November nights. The Pleiades cluster is one of the most recognizable star patterns in the night sky. Its six brightest stars do look like a little dipper. In fact, people in the Northern Hemisphere often mistake the Pleiades for the real Little Dipper asterism, which is located farther north on the sky’s dome. The misty-looking dipper of the Pleiades hovers over the northeastern horizon as darkness falls. It moves across the night sky from east to west, much like the sun does during the day.

Do you love stargazing? Order an EarthSky planisphere

EarthSky community member Greg Hogan captured this image of the Pleiades in November, 2015.

By the way, another name for the Pleiades is the Seven Sisters. But if you look with your eye alone, it’s likely you’ll only see six stars in the Pleiades. Some old Greek legends explore what might have happened to the missing sister, sometimes called the Lost Pleiad.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Pleiades’ all night appearance coincides with late autumn. As this part of the world moves toward winter, it’s easy to imagine the Pleiades as a frosty patch on the dome of night. But in the Southern Hemisphere now, where spring flowers are blooming, this cluster of nocturnal suns watches over the season of awakening and agriculture. In South Africa, for example, the Pleiades are called the hoeing-stars.

Yearly, on or near November 21, the Pleiades cluster culminates – reaches its highest point in the sky – at midnight. (In this instance, midnight means midway between sunset and sunrise.) Historically, the midnight culmination of the Pleiades was very significant to many ancient and primitive peoples. Some of these Pleiades midnight celebrations still linger into the present, such as the old Druid rite of Halloween. Although the midnight culmination date for the Pleiades advances over the long course of time, the date of Halloween has remained fixed by tradition.

Tom Wildoner of LeisurelyScientist.com captured this image of the Pleiades on October 31, 2016.

Bottom line: Watch for the sky’s most celebrated star cluster – the Pleiades – a tiny, misty dipper-shaped star cluster adorning the sky all night long on these November nights.

More about the Pleiades: Famous Seven Sisters

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1QtLMmN

It’s the 1st known interstellar asteroid

A few weeks ago, we reported on a small object visiting from beyond our solar system. Now astronomers have scrutinized data from this object, which has been given the name `Oumuamua, and which must have traveled through space for millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system. The conclusion is that it’s a dark, reddish, highly-elongated rocky or high-metal-content object. And, indeed, it is the first known asteroid from interstellar space. These new results were published today (November 20, 2017) in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

Some astronomers thought the object was a comet when the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawai`i first picked it up on October 19, as a faint point of light moving across the sky. Others thought it looked like a typical fast-moving small asteroid. As they tracked its motion through space, astronomers began to be able to calculate its orbit, showing beyond any doubt that this body did not originate from inside our solar system, like all other asteroids or comets ever observed.

Instead, this object was doubtless from interstellar space.

Observations revealed no signs of cometary activity after it passed closest to the sun in September 2017. It has now been reclassified as an interstellar asteroid – the first ever observed – and named 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua). A statement from the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University of Hawaii described the intricacies of naming this object:

Originally denoted A/2017 U1 (with the A for asteroid), the body is now the first to receive an I (for interstellar) designation from the International Astronomical Union, which created the new category after the discovery. In addition, it has been officially given the name `Oumuamua. The name, which was chosen in consultation with Hawaiian language experts Ka`iu Kimura and Larry Kimura, reflects the way this object is like a scout or messenger sent from the distant past to reach out to us (`ou means “reach out for”, and mua, with the second mua placing emphasis, means “first, in advance of”).

The object’s full official name is 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua), and can also be correctly referred to as 1I, 1I/2017 U1, and 1I/`Oumuamua.

View larger. | This animation shows the path of `Oumuamua, as it passed through our inner solar system in September and October 2017. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech.

But all of that – name, designations, characterizations of the object – came later. First, astronomers had to observe it and try to understand just what this speedy visitor to our solar system might be. And they had to do it quickly. By the time earthly telescopes first noticed it, `Oumuamua had already passed its closest point to the sun, and was heading back into interstellar space. An international team lead by astronomer Karen Meech of IfA observed the object. They gathered data from telescopes around the world, including the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) and the Keck Telescope on Maunakea, the Gemini South telescope, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. These observations led to detailed measurements of the visitor’s properties. Meech commented:

This thing is very strange.

What we found was a rapidly rotating object, at least the size of a football field, that changed in brightness quite dramatically. This change in brightness hints that `Oumuamua could be more than 10 times longer than it is wide – something which has never been seen in our own solar system.

`Oumuamua does have some similarities to small objects in the outer solar system, especially the distant worlds of the Kuiper Belt – a region of rocky, frigid worlds far beyond Neptune. While study of `Oumuamua’s colors shows that this body shares characteristics with both Kuiper Belt objects and organic-rich comets and trojan asteroids, its hyperbolic orbit says it comes from far beyond.

Meech also said the object has:

… a dark red color, similar to objects in the outer solar system, and [we] confirmed that it is completely inert, without the faintest hint of dust around it.

The astronomers said these properties suggest that `Oumuamua is dense, possibly rocky or with high metal content, lacks significant amounts of water or ice, and that its surface is now dark and reddened due to the effects of irradiation from cosmic rays over millions of years.

It is estimated to be at least 400 meters long.

Many comment on stories like this one that they don’t want to see artist’s concepts; they want to see the real thing. Here you go. This deep combined image shows the interstellar asteroid `Oumuamua at the center of the picture. It is surrounded by the trails of faint stars that are smeared as the telescopes tracked the moving asteroid. This image was created by combining multiple images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope as well as the Gemini South Telescope. The object is marked with a blue circle and appears to be a point source, with no surrounding dust. Image via ESO/ K. Meech et al

At first – by looking backwards along the orbit that had been calculated for `Oumuamua – astronomers might have said the object had come from the approximate direction of the bright star Vega, in the northern constellation Lyra the Harp.

Things aren’t that simple, though, in our Milky Way galaxy, where everything is always moving. Although it’s travelilng about 60,000 miles/hour (95,000 km/hour), `Oumuamua has taken so long to journey to our solar system that Vega was not near that position when the asteroid was there (about 300,000 years ago). According to astronomers:

`Oumuamua may well have been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with the solar system.

In fact, astronomers were expecting to find an object like this one. They estimate that an interstellar asteroid similar to `Oumuamua passes through the inner solar system about once per year. We haven’t seen them before because they are so faint and hard to spot. But recent survey telescopes, such as Pan-STARRS, are powerful enough to discover them.

That’s why team member Olivier Hainaut of European Southern Observatory commented:

We are continuing to observe this unique object, and we hope to more accurately pin down where it came from and where it is going next on its tour of the galaxy. And now that we have found the first interstellar rock, we are getting ready for the next ones!

This artist’s impression shows the 1st interstellar asteroid, which has been named `Oumuamua. Data analysis reveals that is is a dark red highly-elongated metallic or rocky object, about 400 meters long, unlike anything normally found in our solar system. Image via ESO/ M. Kornmesser.

Bottom line: Astronomers report on the first known interstellar asteroid, which swept nearest our sun in September, then sped away again. Astronomers have named this object `Oumuamua and say it is dark red and very elongated.

Via ESO and IfA.

Source: A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2zTNvQ6

A few weeks ago, we reported on a small object visiting from beyond our solar system. Now astronomers have scrutinized data from this object, which has been given the name `Oumuamua, and which must have traveled through space for millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system. The conclusion is that it’s a dark, reddish, highly-elongated rocky or high-metal-content object. And, indeed, it is the first known asteroid from interstellar space. These new results were published today (November 20, 2017) in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

Some astronomers thought the object was a comet when the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawai`i first picked it up on October 19, as a faint point of light moving across the sky. Others thought it looked like a typical fast-moving small asteroid. As they tracked its motion through space, astronomers began to be able to calculate its orbit, showing beyond any doubt that this body did not originate from inside our solar system, like all other asteroids or comets ever observed.

Instead, this object was doubtless from interstellar space.

Observations revealed no signs of cometary activity after it passed closest to the sun in September 2017. It has now been reclassified as an interstellar asteroid – the first ever observed – and named 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua). A statement from the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University of Hawaii described the intricacies of naming this object:

Originally denoted A/2017 U1 (with the A for asteroid), the body is now the first to receive an I (for interstellar) designation from the International Astronomical Union, which created the new category after the discovery. In addition, it has been officially given the name `Oumuamua. The name, which was chosen in consultation with Hawaiian language experts Ka`iu Kimura and Larry Kimura, reflects the way this object is like a scout or messenger sent from the distant past to reach out to us (`ou means “reach out for”, and mua, with the second mua placing emphasis, means “first, in advance of”).

The object’s full official name is 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua), and can also be correctly referred to as 1I, 1I/2017 U1, and 1I/`Oumuamua.

View larger. | This animation shows the path of `Oumuamua, as it passed through our inner solar system in September and October 2017. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech.

But all of that – name, designations, characterizations of the object – came later. First, astronomers had to observe it and try to understand just what this speedy visitor to our solar system might be. And they had to do it quickly. By the time earthly telescopes first noticed it, `Oumuamua had already passed its closest point to the sun, and was heading back into interstellar space. An international team lead by astronomer Karen Meech of IfA observed the object. They gathered data from telescopes around the world, including the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) and the Keck Telescope on Maunakea, the Gemini South telescope, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. These observations led to detailed measurements of the visitor’s properties. Meech commented:

This thing is very strange.

What we found was a rapidly rotating object, at least the size of a football field, that changed in brightness quite dramatically. This change in brightness hints that `Oumuamua could be more than 10 times longer than it is wide – something which has never been seen in our own solar system.

`Oumuamua does have some similarities to small objects in the outer solar system, especially the distant worlds of the Kuiper Belt – a region of rocky, frigid worlds far beyond Neptune. While study of `Oumuamua’s colors shows that this body shares characteristics with both Kuiper Belt objects and organic-rich comets and trojan asteroids, its hyperbolic orbit says it comes from far beyond.

Meech also said the object has:

… a dark red color, similar to objects in the outer solar system, and [we] confirmed that it is completely inert, without the faintest hint of dust around it.

The astronomers said these properties suggest that `Oumuamua is dense, possibly rocky or with high metal content, lacks significant amounts of water or ice, and that its surface is now dark and reddened due to the effects of irradiation from cosmic rays over millions of years.

It is estimated to be at least 400 meters long.

Many comment on stories like this one that they don’t want to see artist’s concepts; they want to see the real thing. Here you go. This deep combined image shows the interstellar asteroid `Oumuamua at the center of the picture. It is surrounded by the trails of faint stars that are smeared as the telescopes tracked the moving asteroid. This image was created by combining multiple images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope as well as the Gemini South Telescope. The object is marked with a blue circle and appears to be a point source, with no surrounding dust. Image via ESO/ K. Meech et al

At first – by looking backwards along the orbit that had been calculated for `Oumuamua – astronomers might have said the object had come from the approximate direction of the bright star Vega, in the northern constellation Lyra the Harp.

Things aren’t that simple, though, in our Milky Way galaxy, where everything is always moving. Although it’s travelilng about 60,000 miles/hour (95,000 km/hour), `Oumuamua has taken so long to journey to our solar system that Vega was not near that position when the asteroid was there (about 300,000 years ago). According to astronomers:

`Oumuamua may well have been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with the solar system.

In fact, astronomers were expecting to find an object like this one. They estimate that an interstellar asteroid similar to `Oumuamua passes through the inner solar system about once per year. We haven’t seen them before because they are so faint and hard to spot. But recent survey telescopes, such as Pan-STARRS, are powerful enough to discover them.

That’s why team member Olivier Hainaut of European Southern Observatory commented:

We are continuing to observe this unique object, and we hope to more accurately pin down where it came from and where it is going next on its tour of the galaxy. And now that we have found the first interstellar rock, we are getting ready for the next ones!

This artist’s impression shows the 1st interstellar asteroid, which has been named `Oumuamua. Data analysis reveals that is is a dark red highly-elongated metallic or rocky object, about 400 meters long, unlike anything normally found in our solar system. Image via ESO/ M. Kornmesser.

Bottom line: Astronomers report on the first known interstellar asteroid, which swept nearest our sun in September, then sped away again. Astronomers have named this object `Oumuamua and say it is dark red and very elongated.

Via ESO and IfA.

Source: A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2zTNvQ6

New catalyst controls activation of a carbon-hydrogen bond

A side view of the new catalyst. The dirhodium, shown in blue, "is the engine that makes the catalyst work," says Emory chemist Huw Davies. "The shape of the scaffold around the dirhodium is what controls which C-H bond the catalyst works on." (Graphic image by Kuangbiao Liao)

By Carol Clark

Chemists have developed another catalyst that can selectively activate a carbon-hydrogen bond, part of an ongoing strategy to revolutionize the field of organic synthesis and open up new chemical space.

The journal Nature is publishing the work by chemists at Emory University, following on their development of a similar catalyst last year. Both of the catalysts are able to selectively functionalize the unreactive carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds of an alkane without using a directing group, while also maintaining virtually full control of site selectivity and the three-dimensional shape of the molecules produced.

“Alkanes have a lot of C-H bonds and we showed last year that we can bring in one of our catalysts and pluck out a particular one of these bonds and make it reactive,” says Huw Davies, an Emory professor of organic chemistry whose lab led the research. “Now we are reporting a second catalyst that can do the same thing with another C-H bond. We’re building up the toolbox, and we’ve got more catalysts in the pipeline that will continue to expand the toolbox for this new way of doing chemistry.”

Selective C-H functionalization holds particular promise for the pharmaceutical industry, Davies adds. “It’s such a new strategy for making chemical compounds that it will opens up new chemical space and the possibility of making new classes of drugs that have never been made before.”

Alkanes are the simplest of molecules, consisting only of hydrogen and carbon atoms. They are cheap and plentiful. Until the recent development of the catalysts by the Davies lab, however, alkanes were considered non-functional, or unreactive, except in uncontrollable situations such as when they were burning.

The first author of the Nature paper is Emory chemistry graduate student Kuangbiao Liao.

Davies is the director of the National Science Foundation’s Center for Selective C-H Functionalization (CCHF), which is based at Emory and encompasses 15 major research universities from across the country, as well as industrial partners. The NSF recently awarded the CCHF renewed funding of $20 million over the next five years.

The CCHF is leading a paradigm shift in organic synthesis, which has traditionally focused on modifying reactive, or functional, groups in a molecule. C-H functionalization breaks this rule for how to make compounds: It bypasses the reactive groups and does synthesis at what would normally be considered inert carbon-hydrogen bonds, abundant in organic compounds.

“Twenty years ago, many chemists were calling the idea of selectively functionalizing C-H bonds outrageous and impossible,” Davies says. “Now, with all of the results coming out of the CCHF and other research groups across the world they’re saying, ‘That’s amazing!’ We’re beginning to see some real breakthroughs in this field.”

Many other approaches under development for C-H functionalization use a directing group — a chemical entity that combines to a catalyst and then directs the catalyst to a particular C-H bond. The Davies lab is developing a suite of dirhodium catalysts that bypass the need for a directing group to control the C-H functionalization. The dirhodium catalysts are encased within a three-dimensional scaffold.

“The dirhodium is the engine that makes the chemistry work,” Davies says. “The shape of the scaffold around the dirhodium is what controls which C-H bond the catalyst works on.”

Additional co-authors of the Nature paper include Thomas Pickel, Vyacheslav Boyarskikh and John Basca (from Emory’s Department of Chemistry) and Djamaladdin Musaev (from Emory’s Department of Chemistry and the Cherry L. Emerson Center for Scientific Computation).

Related:
Chemists find 'huge shortcut' for organic synthesis using C-H bonds
NSF awards Emory's Center for Selective C-H Functionalization $20 million



from eScienceCommons http://ift.tt/2B74MmW

A side view of the new catalyst. The dirhodium, shown in blue, "is the engine that makes the catalyst work," says Emory chemist Huw Davies. "The shape of the scaffold around the dirhodium is what controls which C-H bond the catalyst works on." (Graphic image by Kuangbiao Liao)

By Carol Clark

Chemists have developed another catalyst that can selectively activate a carbon-hydrogen bond, part of an ongoing strategy to revolutionize the field of organic synthesis and open up new chemical space.

The journal Nature is publishing the work by chemists at Emory University, following on their development of a similar catalyst last year. Both of the catalysts are able to selectively functionalize the unreactive carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds of an alkane without using a directing group, while also maintaining virtually full control of site selectivity and the three-dimensional shape of the molecules produced.

“Alkanes have a lot of C-H bonds and we showed last year that we can bring in one of our catalysts and pluck out a particular one of these bonds and make it reactive,” says Huw Davies, an Emory professor of organic chemistry whose lab led the research. “Now we are reporting a second catalyst that can do the same thing with another C-H bond. We’re building up the toolbox, and we’ve got more catalysts in the pipeline that will continue to expand the toolbox for this new way of doing chemistry.”

Selective C-H functionalization holds particular promise for the pharmaceutical industry, Davies adds. “It’s such a new strategy for making chemical compounds that it will opens up new chemical space and the possibility of making new classes of drugs that have never been made before.”

Alkanes are the simplest of molecules, consisting only of hydrogen and carbon atoms. They are cheap and plentiful. Until the recent development of the catalysts by the Davies lab, however, alkanes were considered non-functional, or unreactive, except in uncontrollable situations such as when they were burning.

The first author of the Nature paper is Emory chemistry graduate student Kuangbiao Liao.

Davies is the director of the National Science Foundation’s Center for Selective C-H Functionalization (CCHF), which is based at Emory and encompasses 15 major research universities from across the country, as well as industrial partners. The NSF recently awarded the CCHF renewed funding of $20 million over the next five years.

The CCHF is leading a paradigm shift in organic synthesis, which has traditionally focused on modifying reactive, or functional, groups in a molecule. C-H functionalization breaks this rule for how to make compounds: It bypasses the reactive groups and does synthesis at what would normally be considered inert carbon-hydrogen bonds, abundant in organic compounds.

“Twenty years ago, many chemists were calling the idea of selectively functionalizing C-H bonds outrageous and impossible,” Davies says. “Now, with all of the results coming out of the CCHF and other research groups across the world they’re saying, ‘That’s amazing!’ We’re beginning to see some real breakthroughs in this field.”

Many other approaches under development for C-H functionalization use a directing group — a chemical entity that combines to a catalyst and then directs the catalyst to a particular C-H bond. The Davies lab is developing a suite of dirhodium catalysts that bypass the need for a directing group to control the C-H functionalization. The dirhodium catalysts are encased within a three-dimensional scaffold.

“The dirhodium is the engine that makes the chemistry work,” Davies says. “The shape of the scaffold around the dirhodium is what controls which C-H bond the catalyst works on.”

Additional co-authors of the Nature paper include Thomas Pickel, Vyacheslav Boyarskikh and John Basca (from Emory’s Department of Chemistry) and Djamaladdin Musaev (from Emory’s Department of Chemistry and the Cherry L. Emerson Center for Scientific Computation).

Related:
Chemists find 'huge shortcut' for organic synthesis using C-H bonds
NSF awards Emory's Center for Selective C-H Functionalization $20 million



from eScienceCommons http://ift.tt/2B74MmW