Cellular ‘kryptonite’ poses challenges in tackling childhood nerve cancer

Neuroblastoma cells can produce a cellular ‘kryptonite’ that saps the power from nearby immune cells.

Like a horde of microscopic cellular superheroes, each with unique superpowers, your body’s immune system is made up of many different types of cells, all working together to defend you from alien invaders.

But as well as these external threats, the immune system is also capable of fighting another foe: cancer. So harnessing these superheroes’ powers, and directing them against this enemy within, has long been a goal of researchers.

This approach to battling cancer – called immunotherapy – has generated a lot of excitement in recent years, with several new drugs showing success in clinical trials for cancers like lung cancer and melanoma.

There’s considerable evidence, as we’ll see below, that it could be of particular benefit for children with neuroblastoma, a cancer against which progress has been slow, and which desperately needs new treatments.

But a new Cancer Research UK-funded study, led by Dr Francis Mussai at the University of Birmingham, has revealed that persuading our immunological superheroes to target neuroblastoma cells might be trickier than initially thought.

They’ve discovered that neuroblastoma cells can produce a cellular ‘kryptonite’ that – like Superman succumbing to his greatest weakness – seems to sap the power from nearby immune cells.

Thankfully, understanding this mechanism is the first step to unlocking the power of the immune system. And this could finally lead to a way to help patients with the disease.

A childhood scourge

FrancisMussai

Dr Mussai

Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer that affects around 90 children a year in the UK, and is usually diagnosed in children under the age of five. The disease develops when the cells that are supposed to form nerve cells go wrong as a baby develops in the womb.

We’ve written before about how Cancer Research UK is dedicated to finding the best possible combination of chemotherapy drugs for neuroblastoma, particularly for children whose cancer has come back.

But scientists are also developing treatments that exploit one of the disease’s unique properties: almost all neuroblastoma cells are covered with a molecule known as GD2, which is very rarely found on healthy cells.

And this unique external appearance makes it stick out like a sore thumb, and so is a perfect target for immunotherapy.

This is because immune cells work by recognising specific molecules on the surface of cells, which flag them up for destruction.

So getting the immune system to target any cells covered with GD2 could offer real hope for children with neuroblastoma.

Unfortunately, previous work to exploit this hasn’t worked as well as scientists had predicted.

But this is where the work of Francis and his colleagues comes in.

They’ve discovered that, while neuroblastoma cells present a tantalising target for immune cells, they’ve also developed sophisticated countermeasures too.

Escaping justice

The team examined what happened when they mixed a certain type of healthy immune cell with neuroblastoma cells taken from patients.

Surprisingly, they found that the immune cells, called T cells, suddenly became incapable of doing their jobs. Their ability to grow, attack cancer cells and alert other immune cells to danger were all dramatically reduced.

But why?

“There didn’t seem to be any direct signal the cancer cells sent to the immune cells,” Francis told us.

Kryptonite

“The neuroblastoma cells just acted like kryptonite to the T cells” Via Flickr/CC BY 2.0

“The neuroblastoma cells just acted like kryptonite to the T cells. As soon as they were brought together, all of the normal cancer-fighting abilities of the immune cells were dramatically weakened.”

So what was happening?

Cancer cells grow incredibly rapidly. And to do this they use any source of energy they can find. And it turns out that neuroblastoma cells are particularly fond of feeding off a chemical called arginine.

Arginine is one of the 20 amino acids that form the building blocks of all proteins. To use it as a fuel, neuroblastoma cells produce an enzyme called arginase II, which breaks down the arginine for fuel.

The cancer cells devour so much arginine that the chemical gets pulled in from the surrounding area – even from the nearby blood stream.

But – by an unhappy coincidence – it also turns out that arginine is absolutely critical for immune cells to function. Some immune cells need it to form a reactive chemical called nitric oxide, which is used to break open the bacteria and cancer cells the immune system may be fighting. T cells also require arginine to replicate and produce a crucial cell-killing weapon called the T-cell receptor.

“Most immunotherapy treatments have the unspoken assumption that a patient’s immune system works just fine,” Francis explained.

“All the immune system needs to fight cancer is help identifying the target, a boost of some kind, or something that cuts its brakes.

“The idea that the patient’s immune system is made impotent by the cancer itself changes this equation. Just growing up in an environment lacking arginine seems to be enough make a patient’s T cells sluggish and ineffective.”

Clearing the obstacles in our path

Although this all may sound like bad news, it’s vital we spot these hidden obstacles to find the best way around them.

The next step is to work out how we can use these new findings to improve immunotherapy treatments for this disease.

Researchers can now start working on finding out whether blocking arginase II, or supplementing immunotherapies with extra arginine, could boost their effectiveness against neuroblastoma.

And this could jump-start clinical trials into neuroblastoma, and bring the benefits of immunotherapy to patients with a form of cancer that desperately needs a game changer.

Figuring out how to contain this ‘kryptonite’ could ultimately be the key to unleashing the immune system against this childhood disease. And it’s only through research that we can clear these obstacles and find better treatments for children with neuroblastoma.

Alan

Reference

Mussai, F, et al. (2015). Neuroblastoma arginase activity creates an immunosuppressive microenvironment that impairs autologous and engineered immunity. Cancer Research. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-3443



from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1IbpsIy
Neuroblastoma cells can produce a cellular ‘kryptonite’ that saps the power from nearby immune cells.

Like a horde of microscopic cellular superheroes, each with unique superpowers, your body’s immune system is made up of many different types of cells, all working together to defend you from alien invaders.

But as well as these external threats, the immune system is also capable of fighting another foe: cancer. So harnessing these superheroes’ powers, and directing them against this enemy within, has long been a goal of researchers.

This approach to battling cancer – called immunotherapy – has generated a lot of excitement in recent years, with several new drugs showing success in clinical trials for cancers like lung cancer and melanoma.

There’s considerable evidence, as we’ll see below, that it could be of particular benefit for children with neuroblastoma, a cancer against which progress has been slow, and which desperately needs new treatments.

But a new Cancer Research UK-funded study, led by Dr Francis Mussai at the University of Birmingham, has revealed that persuading our immunological superheroes to target neuroblastoma cells might be trickier than initially thought.

They’ve discovered that neuroblastoma cells can produce a cellular ‘kryptonite’ that – like Superman succumbing to his greatest weakness – seems to sap the power from nearby immune cells.

Thankfully, understanding this mechanism is the first step to unlocking the power of the immune system. And this could finally lead to a way to help patients with the disease.

A childhood scourge

FrancisMussai

Dr Mussai

Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer that affects around 90 children a year in the UK, and is usually diagnosed in children under the age of five. The disease develops when the cells that are supposed to form nerve cells go wrong as a baby develops in the womb.

We’ve written before about how Cancer Research UK is dedicated to finding the best possible combination of chemotherapy drugs for neuroblastoma, particularly for children whose cancer has come back.

But scientists are also developing treatments that exploit one of the disease’s unique properties: almost all neuroblastoma cells are covered with a molecule known as GD2, which is very rarely found on healthy cells.

And this unique external appearance makes it stick out like a sore thumb, and so is a perfect target for immunotherapy.

This is because immune cells work by recognising specific molecules on the surface of cells, which flag them up for destruction.

So getting the immune system to target any cells covered with GD2 could offer real hope for children with neuroblastoma.

Unfortunately, previous work to exploit this hasn’t worked as well as scientists had predicted.

But this is where the work of Francis and his colleagues comes in.

They’ve discovered that, while neuroblastoma cells present a tantalising target for immune cells, they’ve also developed sophisticated countermeasures too.

Escaping justice

The team examined what happened when they mixed a certain type of healthy immune cell with neuroblastoma cells taken from patients.

Surprisingly, they found that the immune cells, called T cells, suddenly became incapable of doing their jobs. Their ability to grow, attack cancer cells and alert other immune cells to danger were all dramatically reduced.

But why?

“There didn’t seem to be any direct signal the cancer cells sent to the immune cells,” Francis told us.

Kryptonite

“The neuroblastoma cells just acted like kryptonite to the T cells” Via Flickr/CC BY 2.0

“The neuroblastoma cells just acted like kryptonite to the T cells. As soon as they were brought together, all of the normal cancer-fighting abilities of the immune cells were dramatically weakened.”

So what was happening?

Cancer cells grow incredibly rapidly. And to do this they use any source of energy they can find. And it turns out that neuroblastoma cells are particularly fond of feeding off a chemical called arginine.

Arginine is one of the 20 amino acids that form the building blocks of all proteins. To use it as a fuel, neuroblastoma cells produce an enzyme called arginase II, which breaks down the arginine for fuel.

The cancer cells devour so much arginine that the chemical gets pulled in from the surrounding area – even from the nearby blood stream.

But – by an unhappy coincidence – it also turns out that arginine is absolutely critical for immune cells to function. Some immune cells need it to form a reactive chemical called nitric oxide, which is used to break open the bacteria and cancer cells the immune system may be fighting. T cells also require arginine to replicate and produce a crucial cell-killing weapon called the T-cell receptor.

“Most immunotherapy treatments have the unspoken assumption that a patient’s immune system works just fine,” Francis explained.

“All the immune system needs to fight cancer is help identifying the target, a boost of some kind, or something that cuts its brakes.

“The idea that the patient’s immune system is made impotent by the cancer itself changes this equation. Just growing up in an environment lacking arginine seems to be enough make a patient’s T cells sluggish and ineffective.”

Clearing the obstacles in our path

Although this all may sound like bad news, it’s vital we spot these hidden obstacles to find the best way around them.

The next step is to work out how we can use these new findings to improve immunotherapy treatments for this disease.

Researchers can now start working on finding out whether blocking arginase II, or supplementing immunotherapies with extra arginine, could boost their effectiveness against neuroblastoma.

And this could jump-start clinical trials into neuroblastoma, and bring the benefits of immunotherapy to patients with a form of cancer that desperately needs a game changer.

Figuring out how to contain this ‘kryptonite’ could ultimately be the key to unleashing the immune system against this childhood disease. And it’s only through research that we can clear these obstacles and find better treatments for children with neuroblastoma.

Alan

Reference

Mussai, F, et al. (2015). Neuroblastoma arginase activity creates an immunosuppressive microenvironment that impairs autologous and engineered immunity. Cancer Research. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-3443



from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1IbpsIy

Student Intern Looks to Make a Big Difference at EPA This Summer

Every summer, EPA brings in students to work, learn practical environmental skills, and enhance their educational experience through our Pathways Intern Program. The Big Blue Thread is proud to feature several blogs written by these summer interns, focusing on what motivates them to work in the environmental sector and what attracted them to EPA. Our first blog is by Andrew Speckin, who is lending his skills in our Clean Water Program.

By Andrew Speckin

I’m moving into my junior year at the University of Kansas, pursuing a double major in accounting and information systems technology, which is simply a term to describe the use of analytics for business purposes. In today’s workplace, there is a new phenomenon called “Big Data.” It seems that every company or organization is using some form of Big Data, including EPA.

The Agency uses data in many areas: to compare water or air quality assessments from different time periods and regions, to spot trends in ever-changing river levels, to have a better understanding of the precursors that lead to flooding, to determine how temperature affects our ecosystem, and for countless other challenges.

There’s always room for improvement. Some of the projects I’m working on this summer involve updating and enhancing the data systems currently in place. Improving those systems will allow for better decision making and, in turn, better protection of our environment.

Working for EPA gives me the chance to help safeguard the environment in which I spent so much time growing up as a kid. Being outdoors started at an early age; my father signed me up for the Boy Scouts while I was in kindergarten. I stayed with the Scouts all the way up to my senior year of high school, and eventually was presented the Eagle Scout Award.

150731 - Speckin Bartle Camp Site

Andrew’s 10-day campsite at Bartle Scout Reservation

During those 12 years, I was able to partake in many diverse outdoor adventures here in the Heartland, such as spelunking in Missouri caves, canoeing down small Missouri Rivers, and participating in a 10-day summer camp at the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation. I also went white water rafting in Colorado. Going through Boy Scouts gave me a perspective on how truly complex our ecosystem is, and an understanding that the environment needs to be protected for the health of future generations.

One of the lessons I learned in Boy Scouts was to leave the campground in a better condition than which I found it. If everyone followed that rule in the environment, EPA would have less work to do. Sadly, that is not the case. There’s a lot of work to be done and I’m ready to get started, while hopefully making a difference in the fight to conserve our precious resources.

About the Author: Andrew Speckin is working as a Student Intern this summer at EPA Region 7. One of his main goals in life is to shoot under 100 on 18 holes of golf. Knowing Andrew, we’re sure he’ll achieve that goal, among many others in his life.



from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1gxVHce

Every summer, EPA brings in students to work, learn practical environmental skills, and enhance their educational experience through our Pathways Intern Program. The Big Blue Thread is proud to feature several blogs written by these summer interns, focusing on what motivates them to work in the environmental sector and what attracted them to EPA. Our first blog is by Andrew Speckin, who is lending his skills in our Clean Water Program.

By Andrew Speckin

I’m moving into my junior year at the University of Kansas, pursuing a double major in accounting and information systems technology, which is simply a term to describe the use of analytics for business purposes. In today’s workplace, there is a new phenomenon called “Big Data.” It seems that every company or organization is using some form of Big Data, including EPA.

The Agency uses data in many areas: to compare water or air quality assessments from different time periods and regions, to spot trends in ever-changing river levels, to have a better understanding of the precursors that lead to flooding, to determine how temperature affects our ecosystem, and for countless other challenges.

There’s always room for improvement. Some of the projects I’m working on this summer involve updating and enhancing the data systems currently in place. Improving those systems will allow for better decision making and, in turn, better protection of our environment.

Working for EPA gives me the chance to help safeguard the environment in which I spent so much time growing up as a kid. Being outdoors started at an early age; my father signed me up for the Boy Scouts while I was in kindergarten. I stayed with the Scouts all the way up to my senior year of high school, and eventually was presented the Eagle Scout Award.

150731 - Speckin Bartle Camp Site

Andrew’s 10-day campsite at Bartle Scout Reservation

During those 12 years, I was able to partake in many diverse outdoor adventures here in the Heartland, such as spelunking in Missouri caves, canoeing down small Missouri Rivers, and participating in a 10-day summer camp at the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation. I also went white water rafting in Colorado. Going through Boy Scouts gave me a perspective on how truly complex our ecosystem is, and an understanding that the environment needs to be protected for the health of future generations.

One of the lessons I learned in Boy Scouts was to leave the campground in a better condition than which I found it. If everyone followed that rule in the environment, EPA would have less work to do. Sadly, that is not the case. There’s a lot of work to be done and I’m ready to get started, while hopefully making a difference in the fight to conserve our precious resources.

About the Author: Andrew Speckin is working as a Student Intern this summer at EPA Region 7. One of his main goals in life is to shoot under 100 on 18 holes of golf. Knowing Andrew, we’re sure he’ll achieve that goal, among many others in his life.



from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1gxVHce

Implementation of the Clean Water Rule Brings Opportunities

When the Clean Water Rule goes into effect on August 28, it marks a new era of protection for our nation’s streams and wetlands. We are enthusiastic about the opportunities provided by the rule to improve the process of identifying waters covered under the Clean Water Act and making jurisdictional determinations and permit decisions more effectively and efficiently. As EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers implement the Clean Water Rule, the agencies will be taking several steps to increase transparency, provide information, and improve the permit process.

Increasing transparency: EPA and the Army Corps will launch a publicly-accessible, online database for all jurisdictional determinations and permits issued under the rule. The database will provide information, for example, on jurisdictional determinations associated with federal permitting programs as well as statistics on the total number, waterbody type, and watershed location. Data regarding the nature and number of pending determinations will also be made publicly available. This database will provide essential transparency needed for effective implementation of the rule.

Responding to information needs: The Clean Water Rule provides clear and comprehensive direction about the process for conducting jurisdictional determinations. Because the rule is so specific, there is no need for any new manuals or guidance documents.  Instead, the agencies will prepare a comprehensive Questions and Answers document that can be routinely supplemented as experience with the rule grows.   As with any new procedures, field staff and the public will have ongoing questions about the rule, and it is important for EPA and the Corps to identify issues and provide answers as the rule takes effect. We will also ensure the public can coordinate with the field staff as new questions arise after the rule goes into effect so that answers can be provided quickly.

Improving the permit process: EPA and the Army Corps will evaluate existing permitting tools and procedures and identify the changes needed to further reduce costs, delays, and frustration in federal permitting, while improving Clean Water Act protections that benefit public health and the environment. The agencies will focus on increasing the availability of information on issued permits, and improving coordination with federal and state permitting partners to reduce overlap and redundancy in permit reviews.

The strong commitment to seizing these opportunities during implementation of the Clean Water Rule was reflected in a memo distributed across the agencies by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Assistant Secretary for the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy. We will provide updates of our efforts on a regular basis as part of our obligation to implement the rule in an efficient and effective manner.



from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1gxVG8f

When the Clean Water Rule goes into effect on August 28, it marks a new era of protection for our nation’s streams and wetlands. We are enthusiastic about the opportunities provided by the rule to improve the process of identifying waters covered under the Clean Water Act and making jurisdictional determinations and permit decisions more effectively and efficiently. As EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers implement the Clean Water Rule, the agencies will be taking several steps to increase transparency, provide information, and improve the permit process.

Increasing transparency: EPA and the Army Corps will launch a publicly-accessible, online database for all jurisdictional determinations and permits issued under the rule. The database will provide information, for example, on jurisdictional determinations associated with federal permitting programs as well as statistics on the total number, waterbody type, and watershed location. Data regarding the nature and number of pending determinations will also be made publicly available. This database will provide essential transparency needed for effective implementation of the rule.

Responding to information needs: The Clean Water Rule provides clear and comprehensive direction about the process for conducting jurisdictional determinations. Because the rule is so specific, there is no need for any new manuals or guidance documents.  Instead, the agencies will prepare a comprehensive Questions and Answers document that can be routinely supplemented as experience with the rule grows.   As with any new procedures, field staff and the public will have ongoing questions about the rule, and it is important for EPA and the Corps to identify issues and provide answers as the rule takes effect. We will also ensure the public can coordinate with the field staff as new questions arise after the rule goes into effect so that answers can be provided quickly.

Improving the permit process: EPA and the Army Corps will evaluate existing permitting tools and procedures and identify the changes needed to further reduce costs, delays, and frustration in federal permitting, while improving Clean Water Act protections that benefit public health and the environment. The agencies will focus on increasing the availability of information on issued permits, and improving coordination with federal and state permitting partners to reduce overlap and redundancy in permit reviews.

The strong commitment to seizing these opportunities during implementation of the Clean Water Rule was reflected in a memo distributed across the agencies by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Assistant Secretary for the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy. We will provide updates of our efforts on a regular basis as part of our obligation to implement the rule in an efficient and effective manner.



from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1gxVG8f

First of month’s two lunar perigees on August 2, 2015

In August 2015, the moon sweeps to perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit – for the first of two times this month on August 2 at 10:11 UTC. That is August 2 at 5:11 a.m. CDT. The moon at this perigee lies 362,139 kilometers (225,023 miles) from Earth.

The moon will again swing to perigee on August 30, though it’ll come closer to Earth this time around (358,290 kilometers). Less than one day before August’s second lunar perigee, the moon will turn full on August 29, to present the first of three full moon supermoons in 2015.

We list the dates for this year’s 13 lunar apogees (farthest points) and 13 lunar perigees (nearest points):

2015

Apogee Perigee
January 9 January 21
February 6 February 19
March 5 March 19
April 1 April 17
April 29 May 15
May 26 June 10
June 23 July 5
July 21 August 2
August 18 August 30
September 14 September 28
October 11 October 26
November 7 November 23
December 5 December 21

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Amazingly, in periods of four years, lunar apogees and perigees fall on the same, or nearly the same calendar dates. Let’s look four years ahead, to the year 2019:

2019

Apogee Perigee
January 9 January 21
February 5 February 19
March 4 March 19
April 1 April 16
April 28 May 13
May 26 June 7
June 23 July 5
July 20 August 2
August 17 August 30
September 13 September 28
October 10 October 26
November 7 November 23
December 5 December 18

Also, in cycles of two years, the calendar dates remain the same, or nearly so, except that the lunar apogees and perigees trade places. For instance, let’s look two years beyond 2015, to the year 2017:

2017

Apogee Perigee
January 22 January 10
February 18 February 6
March 18 March 3
April 15 March 30
May 12 April 27
June 8 May 26
July 6 June 23
August 2 July 21
August 30 August 18
September 27 September 13
October 25 October 9
November 21 November 6
December 19 December 4

Want to know more? Click here for a complete listing of all lunar perigees and apogees for the 21st century (2001 to 2100).

Intriguing cycle of farthest and closest moons

It is hard to believe that this rather straight-forward four-year apogee/perigee cycle is so little known among professional astronomers and lay people alike. Lunar apogees and lunar perigees align on the same, or nearly the same calendar dates every four years, because 53 returns to perigee is nearly commensurate with four calendar years. The mean length of the anomalistic month (perigee to perigee, or apogee to apogee) is 27.55455 days, whereas the average Gregorian year equals 365.2425 days. Hence:

27.55455 x 53 = 1460.3912 days

365.2425 x 4 = 1460.97 days

View larger. | Image via Wikipedia.

View larger. | Image via Wikipedia.

View larger. Image credit: NASA

View larger. Image credit: NASA

Bottom line: in periods of four years, lunar apogees and perigees fall on the same, or nearly the same calendar dates.



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1C0u8Pv

In August 2015, the moon sweeps to perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit – for the first of two times this month on August 2 at 10:11 UTC. That is August 2 at 5:11 a.m. CDT. The moon at this perigee lies 362,139 kilometers (225,023 miles) from Earth.

The moon will again swing to perigee on August 30, though it’ll come closer to Earth this time around (358,290 kilometers). Less than one day before August’s second lunar perigee, the moon will turn full on August 29, to present the first of three full moon supermoons in 2015.

We list the dates for this year’s 13 lunar apogees (farthest points) and 13 lunar perigees (nearest points):

2015

Apogee Perigee
January 9 January 21
February 6 February 19
March 5 March 19
April 1 April 17
April 29 May 15
May 26 June 10
June 23 July 5
July 21 August 2
August 18 August 30
September 14 September 28
October 11 October 26
November 7 November 23
December 5 December 21

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Amazingly, in periods of four years, lunar apogees and perigees fall on the same, or nearly the same calendar dates. Let’s look four years ahead, to the year 2019:

2019

Apogee Perigee
January 9 January 21
February 5 February 19
March 4 March 19
April 1 April 16
April 28 May 13
May 26 June 7
June 23 July 5
July 20 August 2
August 17 August 30
September 13 September 28
October 10 October 26
November 7 November 23
December 5 December 18

Also, in cycles of two years, the calendar dates remain the same, or nearly so, except that the lunar apogees and perigees trade places. For instance, let’s look two years beyond 2015, to the year 2017:

2017

Apogee Perigee
January 22 January 10
February 18 February 6
March 18 March 3
April 15 March 30
May 12 April 27
June 8 May 26
July 6 June 23
August 2 July 21
August 30 August 18
September 27 September 13
October 25 October 9
November 21 November 6
December 19 December 4

Want to know more? Click here for a complete listing of all lunar perigees and apogees for the 21st century (2001 to 2100).

Intriguing cycle of farthest and closest moons

It is hard to believe that this rather straight-forward four-year apogee/perigee cycle is so little known among professional astronomers and lay people alike. Lunar apogees and lunar perigees align on the same, or nearly the same calendar dates every four years, because 53 returns to perigee is nearly commensurate with four calendar years. The mean length of the anomalistic month (perigee to perigee, or apogee to apogee) is 27.55455 days, whereas the average Gregorian year equals 365.2425 days. Hence:

27.55455 x 53 = 1460.3912 days

365.2425 x 4 = 1460.97 days

View larger. | Image via Wikipedia.

View larger. | Image via Wikipedia.

View larger. Image credit: NASA

View larger. Image credit: NASA

Bottom line: in periods of four years, lunar apogees and perigees fall on the same, or nearly the same calendar dates.



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1C0u8Pv

Comments of the Week #70: From the ultimate darkness to variable stars [Starts With A Bang]

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” -Neil Armstrong

This past week saw a whole lot of interesting things happen, including tonight’s second full moon of the month: a rare blue moon. In my life, I saw the International Space Station for the first time, but here at Starts With A Bang, there was so much to learn about and share, including:

There was also a fun piece about our Solar System’s two-toned moon over at Forbes:

In addition, we reached our second milestone goal on our Patreon, so if you want to vote on which book chapter everyone gets for free in advance of my first book’s release, join and donate today. Other than that, it’s on to our Comments of the Week!

Image credit: White Dwarf, Earth, and Black Dwarf, via BBC / GCSE (L) and SunflowerCosmos (R).

Image credit: White Dwarf, Earth, and Black Dwarf, via BBC / GCSE (L) and SunflowerCosmos (R).

From Omega Centauri on neutron stars going dark: “Sounds like the low temperature neutrino emissions rate is not well known. How else could there be such a large variation in estimated cooling time?
Can neutrinos really pass through neutron stars, even with a tinyl cross-section the column density of a NS is phenomenally high.”

There are two question here, both worthy of an answer and both contrary to what Omega Centauri expects. You see, when you first form a neutron star, you’re taking the core of a massive star that’s so big that the core itself — the part that becomes the neutron star — is more massive than our entire Sun. It collapses down and fuses into a ball of neutrons just a few kilometers wide, heating up to tremendous temperatures of about 10^12 K at the core and 10^6 K at the surface.

Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada, via http://ift.tt/1qChWAE.

Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada, via http://ift.tt/1qChWAE.

It’s actually not the low-temperature cooling that’s a problem; we understand how neutrons behave at low temperatures. It’s not even the high-temperature cooling, although that’s less well understood. (We spend a lot less time with neutrons at 10^12 K than we do at lower temperatures.) It’s the high-density decay time and its gradient, since even though the binding energy is great enough that neutrons shouldn’t decay, they will on long enough timescales thanks to quantum tunneling. Without a perfect model of neutron star interiors, we recognize that the uncertainties in computation leave an uncertainty there. Additionally, your neutrons are more likely to decay close to the neutron-star crust, where the binding energies are lower. Even though the uncertainty is small overall, the decay times are so long that this leads to a few order of magnitude uncertainty in the cooling time of a neutron star.

But don’t worry about your neutrinos interacting. Sure, neutron stars are incredibly dense: about 10 times denser than a Uranium nucleus on average. But they’re also small, at just a few kilometers in radius. So the overall “chances-to-interact-with-a-particle” are only a few times as great your chances for an interaction if you emit a neutrino from the center of the Sun, and most of them are close to the surface anyway. If you randomly pass that neutrino through the core, you’ve got a few percent chance of an interaction (which is high!), but that’s a relatively unlikely path. Most neutrinos escape just fine.

Image credit: © 2015 Brian Kane, via http://ift.tt/1LAKh2l.

Image credit: © 2015 Brian Kane, via http://ift.tt/1LAKh2l.

From PJ on advertising vs. art: “Then the thought of safety struck home. All these distractions along the highways & byways. Imagine, not knowing the signage was there, in the evening (night) there is an apparition of a phase of the moon before the driver – the moment of panic – WTF – simply because it should not be there.
Once the driver gets used to the sight, however, the brain tends to block such things; unless there is a constant change – a slide show, or something of that nature.
Don’t get me wrong, progress has its place; I would rather see a tree, though, than a picture of one.”

I don’t know, honestly, how well it works, but I always feel like the biggest weirdo when I’m driving down a dark road at night. If the Moon is out, or the stars, or bright planets, I’ll try and sneak a peak every chance I get at the sights of the natural beauty out beyond our Earthly skies.

Image credit: Alan Dyer, via http://ift.tt/1SRnYpD.

Image credit: Alan Dyer, via http://ift.tt/1SRnYpD.

Yes, I know it’s dangerous, driving at some 70 mph (110-120 kph) or so, looking at anything other than what’s directly in front of (and around) you. But that’s the whole point of advertising: to distract you from what you’re doing and occupy that mental space with the craving to get you thinking about the product, service or cause in question. For me, if my options are between:

  • actual nature,
  • simulated nature,
  • nothing at all, or
  • an advertisement,

those are my choices, in my order of preference. Only actually restoring the natural setting would be a superior choice, to me, from what this art project accomplished.

Image credit: Multiwavelength images of M31, via the Planck mission team; ESA / NASA.

Image credit: Multiwavelength images of M31, via the Planck mission team; ESA / NASA.

From Jan on the topic of where I publish: “But have you considered publishing on anything else but medium? It really is not good. Those images are 90 degrees rotated. Logical top and bottom of the “composite” image are one bellow another. They are split into many pieces, one can’t even save them and view them properly. RSS does not work there and more.”

At the very least, I know that RSS does work on Medium: my blog’s feed is here.

Writing about the Universe — actually, teaching about it and sharing its wonders and joys in general — is what I’m passionate about. Where and how I do it isn’t of the most paramount importance, but enjoying it, giving my audience a good experience and making (as close to) a living as I can doing it are what I value. That latter reason is something I can’t do on my own (but I’m trying with the Patreon), but right now, Medium is the best of all those worlds for me.

Perhaps down the road, though, it won’t be. Have any input on what might be next?

Image credit: Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF.

Image credit: Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF.

From G, on the “big” question about “small” things like us: “In 1/2 billion years, the Sun will boil Earth’s oceans, so by that time our distant descendants will need to have spread into an interstellar civilization, or Earth-originated life will be another tragic footnote in a distant civilization’s galactic history logs. As we spread across the galaxy, we will discover numerous forms of life in other star systems, and reached some viable conclusions about the types of life that are possible in our galaxy.
But that will not answer the question of whether biology is convergent across galaxies. The only way to get that answer is to go to another galaxy.”

And then there’s the next logical question, if you want to go down that rabbit hole: even though, as far as we can tell, the physical processes of our own galaxy are at play in all galaxies, does that mean the way “life” is realized is the same in our galaxy or local group is the same everywhere? Do giant ellipticals in the heart of Virgo have the same life processes, or are there others unique to its environment?

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.

Do isolated, field galaxies have different types of life that arise? How about more processed material, like that found at the heart of the Perseus cluster (above)?

What we’ve already learned about the Universe is amazing; what we continue to learn is amazing as well. But there will always be more to learn and check out there, and right now, the only thing limiting our knowledge is the resources we’re willing to invest.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

From Scott on dark matter halos: “I thought the rationale behind dark matter halo theory was that the inner and outer portions of a rotating galaxy have the same red shift, or velocity relative to the observer.”

That’s only one piece of evidence for dark matter halos. If you add a non-collisional component of matter to the Universe, you get large, fluffy, diffuse halos around all massive structures, which actually act as seeds for the massive structures in the first place.

But observationally, there was a piece of evidence that came first (like, 40 years before the rotation curves of galaxies were measured): galaxy clusters and the speeds of the individual galaxies in them. In fact, when we reconstruct what the mass profile of a galaxy cluster looks like, we find that sure, individual galaxies have large masses, but there’s an even greater amount of mass distributed in a diffuse, cluster-scale halo!

Image credit: Greg Kochanski, Ian Dell'Antonio, and Tony Tyson (Bell Labs), of the reconstructed mass in a large galaxy cluster.

Image credit: Greg Kochanski, Ian Dell’Antonio, and Tony Tyson (Bell Labs), of the reconstructed mass in a large galaxy cluster.

This is to say there’s a lot more evidence for dark matter halo theory than just the rotation curves of galaxies. They play a part, but that’s actually the least strong evidence out there.

Image credit: NASA/ESA/Richard Massey (California Institute of Technology).

Image credit: NASA/ESA/Richard Massey (California Institute of Technology).

From Boris Borcic on a possibility for dark matter: “Long shot, but on dark matter not possibly being formed of neutrinos, I’d like to be shown that a Fermi gas of (slightly massive) neutrinos can’t achieve dark matter density.”

The problem with neutrinos isn’t that they couldn’t achieve the necessary density of dark matter: if each type of neutrino had a mass of about 4 eV, we’d be golden. (They’re constrained, experimentally, to be less than about 2 eV apiece, by the way.) The problem is that if neutrinos made up this dark matter, that dark matter would be hot, which means it would be moving relatively quickly when neutral atoms were formed. It would suppress the formation of structure on large scales, something that vehemently disagrees with observations.

Image credit: Maroto A.L., Ramirez J., astro-ph/0409280.

Image credit: Maroto A.L., Ramirez J., astro-ph/0409280.

It’s the clustering data that rules this scenario out. Based on the measured mass of neutrinos and the constraints we have, neutrinos appear to be about 0.4% of the dark matter, a number that could increase to a maximum of about 2%, but not more.

It’s a good idea, but one that was explored in incredible detail… and ruled out.

Image credit: Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University.

Image credit: Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University.

From Jim Salsman on primordial black holes as dark matter: “[I]f inflation resulted in sufficient intermediate mass black holes (around 100,000 solar masses each) to explain the formation of relatively recently [discovered] quasars at z>6, those would require that all dark matter be comprised of such black holes, and they would not be detectable through gravitational lensing.”

This statement is phrased as a “this is true,” but in reality it should be asked as, “is this true?” If you allow for the fluctuations inflation produces normally (Gaussian), this is impossible. Producing a fluctuation of more than about 10^-4 solar masses would be ruled out convincingly by power spectrum and CMB data; that can’t happen. So you need an exotic scenario — something involving topological defects — to produce fluctuations at specifically one scale preferential to all others, and that won’t mess up any of our other observations. It is very, very difficult to do this.

Image credit: Sebastian F. Bramberger, Robert H. Brandenberger, Paul Jreidini, and Jerome Quintin, via http://ift.tt/1SRo0xU.

Image credit: Sebastian F. Bramberger, Robert H. Brandenberger, Paul Jreidini, and Jerome Quintin, via http://ift.tt/1SRo0xU.

But the kicker is this: you don’t need to! Gaussian fluctuations — the kind inflation normally predicts — can give you the supermassive black holes needed all the way up to a redshift of 15-20 or so through the process of hierarchical mergers. At the redshift of z=6 that you referred to, in fact, in the graph from the only one of the three papers that mentions the scenario you put forth, they show how Gaussian fluctuations lead to SMBHs of ~10^9 solar masses with no problem, beginning from that tiny 10^-4 seed. So what you contend is a plausible (but fringe) explanation, but one that’s not required to explain what we observe. The standard picture does just fine.

But if we start seeing these objects at, say, a redshift of 30, then we’ve got a reason to listen.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Birmingham/M.Burke et al.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Birmingham/M.Burke et al.

From Denier on the pieces of evidence for dark matter: “There are implications on all of the above listed phenomena currently attributed to Dark Matter if it is confirmed that antimatter falls up.”

If antimatter falls up, we would be tremendously surprised. A lot of things would be wrong. E=mc^2 would be wrong, for one, or gravitational and inertial mass would not be identical. We’re doing the experiment because we have to check all our theories and expectations against the evidence, but we have been attempting to measure this for maybe 50+ years now, and haven’t been able to create and track neutral antimatter precisely enough to check it out. We will keep trying, and hopefully we’ll verify that it falls in a gravitational field just like we expect.

We see antimatter ejecting out of galactic “jets” with the same velocity profiles as we see for normal matter, so we do expect it to behave gravitationally just like matter does. But we don’t know for certain until we check. Still, if it turned out that antimatter falls up, I would say it’d be the biggest surprise and discovery of the 21st century. I’ll keep watching.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-Hubble/Europe Collaboration; Acknowledgment: H. Bond (STScI and Penn State University).

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-Hubble/Europe Collaboration; Acknowledgment: H. Bond (STScI and Penn State University).

And finally, from Wow on the different types of variable stars: “Well, as far as I’m aware, there are three types of variable.

Inherently variable. Stars that change their luminosity.

Multistar variables. Objects that change their luminosity because they appear to be a singe object when they are not.

Occulted variables. Stars that have their brightness changed by having something dark move in front of them.”

This is one way to categorize them, but I was only referring to the inherently variable ones. Even within the inherent variable category, there are a whole slew of different types:

Image credit: NASA, ESA, H.E. Bond (STScI) and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

Image credit: NASA, ESA, H.E. Bond (STScI) and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

  • Pulsating variable stars, including Cepheids, RR Lyrae, long-period variables, Mira variables, slow irregular variables and more. This was the major type that I wrote about, but there are others.
  • Eruptive variable stars, which shed large amount of mass over long timescales. These include Proto-stars, Herbig Ae/Be (pre-main-sequence) stars, giants, supergiants and hypergiants, luminous blue variables, Wolf-Rayet stars and others.
  • And explosive/cataclysmic variable stars, including novae, recurrent novae, dwarf novae and supernovae, among others.

The most important thing I wanted people to take away is that the stars are not fixed, even inherently, but evolve both inside and at the surface, and that every star will have a period in its life where it inherently varies in its brightness, often in the extreme.

Thanks for a great week, and I’ll see you back next week for even more!



from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1SRnYG9

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” -Neil Armstrong

This past week saw a whole lot of interesting things happen, including tonight’s second full moon of the month: a rare blue moon. In my life, I saw the International Space Station for the first time, but here at Starts With A Bang, there was so much to learn about and share, including:

There was also a fun piece about our Solar System’s two-toned moon over at Forbes:

In addition, we reached our second milestone goal on our Patreon, so if you want to vote on which book chapter everyone gets for free in advance of my first book’s release, join and donate today. Other than that, it’s on to our Comments of the Week!

Image credit: White Dwarf, Earth, and Black Dwarf, via BBC / GCSE (L) and SunflowerCosmos (R).

Image credit: White Dwarf, Earth, and Black Dwarf, via BBC / GCSE (L) and SunflowerCosmos (R).

From Omega Centauri on neutron stars going dark: “Sounds like the low temperature neutrino emissions rate is not well known. How else could there be such a large variation in estimated cooling time?
Can neutrinos really pass through neutron stars, even with a tinyl cross-section the column density of a NS is phenomenally high.”

There are two question here, both worthy of an answer and both contrary to what Omega Centauri expects. You see, when you first form a neutron star, you’re taking the core of a massive star that’s so big that the core itself — the part that becomes the neutron star — is more massive than our entire Sun. It collapses down and fuses into a ball of neutrons just a few kilometers wide, heating up to tremendous temperatures of about 10^12 K at the core and 10^6 K at the surface.

Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada, via http://ift.tt/1qChWAE.

Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada, via http://ift.tt/1qChWAE.

It’s actually not the low-temperature cooling that’s a problem; we understand how neutrons behave at low temperatures. It’s not even the high-temperature cooling, although that’s less well understood. (We spend a lot less time with neutrons at 10^12 K than we do at lower temperatures.) It’s the high-density decay time and its gradient, since even though the binding energy is great enough that neutrons shouldn’t decay, they will on long enough timescales thanks to quantum tunneling. Without a perfect model of neutron star interiors, we recognize that the uncertainties in computation leave an uncertainty there. Additionally, your neutrons are more likely to decay close to the neutron-star crust, where the binding energies are lower. Even though the uncertainty is small overall, the decay times are so long that this leads to a few order of magnitude uncertainty in the cooling time of a neutron star.

But don’t worry about your neutrinos interacting. Sure, neutron stars are incredibly dense: about 10 times denser than a Uranium nucleus on average. But they’re also small, at just a few kilometers in radius. So the overall “chances-to-interact-with-a-particle” are only a few times as great your chances for an interaction if you emit a neutrino from the center of the Sun, and most of them are close to the surface anyway. If you randomly pass that neutrino through the core, you’ve got a few percent chance of an interaction (which is high!), but that’s a relatively unlikely path. Most neutrinos escape just fine.

Image credit: © 2015 Brian Kane, via http://ift.tt/1LAKh2l.

Image credit: © 2015 Brian Kane, via http://ift.tt/1LAKh2l.

From PJ on advertising vs. art: “Then the thought of safety struck home. All these distractions along the highways & byways. Imagine, not knowing the signage was there, in the evening (night) there is an apparition of a phase of the moon before the driver – the moment of panic – WTF – simply because it should not be there.
Once the driver gets used to the sight, however, the brain tends to block such things; unless there is a constant change – a slide show, or something of that nature.
Don’t get me wrong, progress has its place; I would rather see a tree, though, than a picture of one.”

I don’t know, honestly, how well it works, but I always feel like the biggest weirdo when I’m driving down a dark road at night. If the Moon is out, or the stars, or bright planets, I’ll try and sneak a peak every chance I get at the sights of the natural beauty out beyond our Earthly skies.

Image credit: Alan Dyer, via http://ift.tt/1SRnYpD.

Image credit: Alan Dyer, via http://ift.tt/1SRnYpD.

Yes, I know it’s dangerous, driving at some 70 mph (110-120 kph) or so, looking at anything other than what’s directly in front of (and around) you. But that’s the whole point of advertising: to distract you from what you’re doing and occupy that mental space with the craving to get you thinking about the product, service or cause in question. For me, if my options are between:

  • actual nature,
  • simulated nature,
  • nothing at all, or
  • an advertisement,

those are my choices, in my order of preference. Only actually restoring the natural setting would be a superior choice, to me, from what this art project accomplished.

Image credit: Multiwavelength images of M31, via the Planck mission team; ESA / NASA.

Image credit: Multiwavelength images of M31, via the Planck mission team; ESA / NASA.

From Jan on the topic of where I publish: “But have you considered publishing on anything else but medium? It really is not good. Those images are 90 degrees rotated. Logical top and bottom of the “composite” image are one bellow another. They are split into many pieces, one can’t even save them and view them properly. RSS does not work there and more.”

At the very least, I know that RSS does work on Medium: my blog’s feed is here.

Writing about the Universe — actually, teaching about it and sharing its wonders and joys in general — is what I’m passionate about. Where and how I do it isn’t of the most paramount importance, but enjoying it, giving my audience a good experience and making (as close to) a living as I can doing it are what I value. That latter reason is something I can’t do on my own (but I’m trying with the Patreon), but right now, Medium is the best of all those worlds for me.

Perhaps down the road, though, it won’t be. Have any input on what might be next?

Image credit: Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF.

Image credit: Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF.

From G, on the “big” question about “small” things like us: “In 1/2 billion years, the Sun will boil Earth’s oceans, so by that time our distant descendants will need to have spread into an interstellar civilization, or Earth-originated life will be another tragic footnote in a distant civilization’s galactic history logs. As we spread across the galaxy, we will discover numerous forms of life in other star systems, and reached some viable conclusions about the types of life that are possible in our galaxy.
But that will not answer the question of whether biology is convergent across galaxies. The only way to get that answer is to go to another galaxy.”

And then there’s the next logical question, if you want to go down that rabbit hole: even though, as far as we can tell, the physical processes of our own galaxy are at play in all galaxies, does that mean the way “life” is realized is the same in our galaxy or local group is the same everywhere? Do giant ellipticals in the heart of Virgo have the same life processes, or are there others unique to its environment?

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.

Do isolated, field galaxies have different types of life that arise? How about more processed material, like that found at the heart of the Perseus cluster (above)?

What we’ve already learned about the Universe is amazing; what we continue to learn is amazing as well. But there will always be more to learn and check out there, and right now, the only thing limiting our knowledge is the resources we’re willing to invest.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

From Scott on dark matter halos: “I thought the rationale behind dark matter halo theory was that the inner and outer portions of a rotating galaxy have the same red shift, or velocity relative to the observer.”

That’s only one piece of evidence for dark matter halos. If you add a non-collisional component of matter to the Universe, you get large, fluffy, diffuse halos around all massive structures, which actually act as seeds for the massive structures in the first place.

But observationally, there was a piece of evidence that came first (like, 40 years before the rotation curves of galaxies were measured): galaxy clusters and the speeds of the individual galaxies in them. In fact, when we reconstruct what the mass profile of a galaxy cluster looks like, we find that sure, individual galaxies have large masses, but there’s an even greater amount of mass distributed in a diffuse, cluster-scale halo!

Image credit: Greg Kochanski, Ian Dell'Antonio, and Tony Tyson (Bell Labs), of the reconstructed mass in a large galaxy cluster.

Image credit: Greg Kochanski, Ian Dell’Antonio, and Tony Tyson (Bell Labs), of the reconstructed mass in a large galaxy cluster.

This is to say there’s a lot more evidence for dark matter halo theory than just the rotation curves of galaxies. They play a part, but that’s actually the least strong evidence out there.

Image credit: NASA/ESA/Richard Massey (California Institute of Technology).

Image credit: NASA/ESA/Richard Massey (California Institute of Technology).

From Boris Borcic on a possibility for dark matter: “Long shot, but on dark matter not possibly being formed of neutrinos, I’d like to be shown that a Fermi gas of (slightly massive) neutrinos can’t achieve dark matter density.”

The problem with neutrinos isn’t that they couldn’t achieve the necessary density of dark matter: if each type of neutrino had a mass of about 4 eV, we’d be golden. (They’re constrained, experimentally, to be less than about 2 eV apiece, by the way.) The problem is that if neutrinos made up this dark matter, that dark matter would be hot, which means it would be moving relatively quickly when neutral atoms were formed. It would suppress the formation of structure on large scales, something that vehemently disagrees with observations.

Image credit: Maroto A.L., Ramirez J., astro-ph/0409280.

Image credit: Maroto A.L., Ramirez J., astro-ph/0409280.

It’s the clustering data that rules this scenario out. Based on the measured mass of neutrinos and the constraints we have, neutrinos appear to be about 0.4% of the dark matter, a number that could increase to a maximum of about 2%, but not more.

It’s a good idea, but one that was explored in incredible detail… and ruled out.

Image credit: Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University.

Image credit: Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University.

From Jim Salsman on primordial black holes as dark matter: “[I]f inflation resulted in sufficient intermediate mass black holes (around 100,000 solar masses each) to explain the formation of relatively recently [discovered] quasars at z>6, those would require that all dark matter be comprised of such black holes, and they would not be detectable through gravitational lensing.”

This statement is phrased as a “this is true,” but in reality it should be asked as, “is this true?” If you allow for the fluctuations inflation produces normally (Gaussian), this is impossible. Producing a fluctuation of more than about 10^-4 solar masses would be ruled out convincingly by power spectrum and CMB data; that can’t happen. So you need an exotic scenario — something involving topological defects — to produce fluctuations at specifically one scale preferential to all others, and that won’t mess up any of our other observations. It is very, very difficult to do this.

Image credit: Sebastian F. Bramberger, Robert H. Brandenberger, Paul Jreidini, and Jerome Quintin, via http://ift.tt/1SRo0xU.

Image credit: Sebastian F. Bramberger, Robert H. Brandenberger, Paul Jreidini, and Jerome Quintin, via http://ift.tt/1SRo0xU.

But the kicker is this: you don’t need to! Gaussian fluctuations — the kind inflation normally predicts — can give you the supermassive black holes needed all the way up to a redshift of 15-20 or so through the process of hierarchical mergers. At the redshift of z=6 that you referred to, in fact, in the graph from the only one of the three papers that mentions the scenario you put forth, they show how Gaussian fluctuations lead to SMBHs of ~10^9 solar masses with no problem, beginning from that tiny 10^-4 seed. So what you contend is a plausible (but fringe) explanation, but one that’s not required to explain what we observe. The standard picture does just fine.

But if we start seeing these objects at, say, a redshift of 30, then we’ve got a reason to listen.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Birmingham/M.Burke et al.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Birmingham/M.Burke et al.

From Denier on the pieces of evidence for dark matter: “There are implications on all of the above listed phenomena currently attributed to Dark Matter if it is confirmed that antimatter falls up.”

If antimatter falls up, we would be tremendously surprised. A lot of things would be wrong. E=mc^2 would be wrong, for one, or gravitational and inertial mass would not be identical. We’re doing the experiment because we have to check all our theories and expectations against the evidence, but we have been attempting to measure this for maybe 50+ years now, and haven’t been able to create and track neutral antimatter precisely enough to check it out. We will keep trying, and hopefully we’ll verify that it falls in a gravitational field just like we expect.

We see antimatter ejecting out of galactic “jets” with the same velocity profiles as we see for normal matter, so we do expect it to behave gravitationally just like matter does. But we don’t know for certain until we check. Still, if it turned out that antimatter falls up, I would say it’d be the biggest surprise and discovery of the 21st century. I’ll keep watching.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-Hubble/Europe Collaboration; Acknowledgment: H. Bond (STScI and Penn State University).

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-Hubble/Europe Collaboration; Acknowledgment: H. Bond (STScI and Penn State University).

And finally, from Wow on the different types of variable stars: “Well, as far as I’m aware, there are three types of variable.

Inherently variable. Stars that change their luminosity.

Multistar variables. Objects that change their luminosity because they appear to be a singe object when they are not.

Occulted variables. Stars that have their brightness changed by having something dark move in front of them.”

This is one way to categorize them, but I was only referring to the inherently variable ones. Even within the inherent variable category, there are a whole slew of different types:

Image credit: NASA, ESA, H.E. Bond (STScI) and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

Image credit: NASA, ESA, H.E. Bond (STScI) and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

  • Pulsating variable stars, including Cepheids, RR Lyrae, long-period variables, Mira variables, slow irregular variables and more. This was the major type that I wrote about, but there are others.
  • Eruptive variable stars, which shed large amount of mass over long timescales. These include Proto-stars, Herbig Ae/Be (pre-main-sequence) stars, giants, supergiants and hypergiants, luminous blue variables, Wolf-Rayet stars and others.
  • And explosive/cataclysmic variable stars, including novae, recurrent novae, dwarf novae and supernovae, among others.

The most important thing I wanted people to take away is that the stars are not fixed, even inherently, but evolve both inside and at the surface, and that every star will have a period in its life where it inherently varies in its brightness, often in the extreme.

Thanks for a great week, and I’ll see you back next week for even more!



from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1SRnYG9

News digest – five types of prostate cancer, red wine and resveratrol, GP referrals, and… microscopic lasers?

What can you do with a microscopic cellular laser?
  • Our researchers in Cambridge found that prostate cancer can be split into five distinct ‘types’ based on a unique genetic signature. The Independent, Mail Online and BBC covered this, and we blogged about what the findings could mean for patients.
  • If it takes more than three trips to the GP to be referred for cancer tests, patients are more likely to be dissatisfied with their overall care, according to our researchers. The Daily Telegraph, Mail Online and Mirror covered this one (here’s our press release).
  • “Single injection could improve womens’ chances of SURVIVING recurrent ovarian cancer” claims the Express. Not quite – this work was done with mice and cells grow in a lab, so there’s a long way to go before this could become something to be tested in a clinical trial.
  • Scientists say they have made a ‘breakthrough’ development using a gene-editing technology called CRISPR, which could help precisely modify genes inside cells – something that could open up new avenues for cancer research. The Independent has more on this.
  • The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated its guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. The BBC has the details.
  • And NICE also released new draft guidance on how all patients, not just those affected by cancer, are cared for at the end of their lives. The BBC also covered this.
  • Should scientists be required to explain their research to the public? The Daily Telegraph explores.
  • US scientists have developed a sci-fi-sounding technique to create microscopic lasers inside cells. It’s still very early days for this, but they believe it may help improve how scientists take pictures of cancer cells. Popular Science and Discover Magazine have more on this.
  • The Mail Online ran a misleading report on new research looking at how healthy behaviour when we’re younger might impact on our risk of cancer in later life. The study wasn’t strong enough to back up the headline: “Teenagers who exercise for just 15 minutes a day slash their risk of cancer later in life by 20%”.

Number of the week:

5

The number of distinct types of prostate cancer our scientists uncovered this week.

  • UK scientists will test out a new radiotherapy machine with a built-in MRI scanner, to see if it can make treatment more precise. The Daily Express has the details on the studies being proposed, and the Institute of Cancer Research also blogged about the announcement.
  • Black men in England have double the risk of being both diagnosed with, and dying from, prostate cancer at some point in their lives, compared with white men. Our news report has the details, and here’s the Guardian and Mail Online’s take on the study.
  • A purified chemical from seaweed “stood up well to heat and light”, according to a study featured in this Mail Online article implying this could make sunscreen better. But the key question is how well it could work at preventing sunburn and reducing harmful exposure to sunlight in people. (But no sunscreen can provide 100 per cent protection, so it’s best to enjoy the sun safely). More tips and advice here.
  • This interesting article from The New York Times looks at how rogue cells that in many cases would be defined as ‘cancer’ can affect organisms across the natural world.
  • Traces of DNA from the human papillomavirus found in oral rinses could lead to a way to track how throat cancer responds to treatment. Our news report has the details.
  • Researchers in Southampton have developed an experimental molecule that can affect the way cells use energy. The Mail Online has more on this early research, which could one day lead to new drugs.
  • ‘Breaking Bad’ came to life this week, as a group mirroring the plotline for the popular TV series were jailed. The BBC has the story.
  • Early research showed that an arthritis drug could be repurposed as a potential treatment for some blood cancers. Oncology Nurse Advisor has more on this.
  • The American Cancer Society’s Dr Len took a fascinating look at how, despite huge advances in genetics, it’s still really important to know your family history.
  • The Medical Research Council blogged about its new £16m joint funding for ‘molecular pathology nodes’ (centres of expertise across different sectors and disciplines) – accelerating new types of test into the NHS.
  • Health News Review took a critical look at promises by eminent scientists to ‘cure cancer within a decade’ – something also discussed in a blog post on Forbes.

And finally

  • “Could one glass of red wine a day keep bowel cancer at bay?” ask the Mail Online. ‘No’ is the answer. This headline came from a new study by our scientists in Leicester who found that a chemical found in red grapes – called resveratrol – may be good in small doses to prevent bowel cancer in mice. Our blog post has all the information you need (with a large glass of caveats).

Arya



from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1IePJUn
What can you do with a microscopic cellular laser?
  • Our researchers in Cambridge found that prostate cancer can be split into five distinct ‘types’ based on a unique genetic signature. The Independent, Mail Online and BBC covered this, and we blogged about what the findings could mean for patients.
  • If it takes more than three trips to the GP to be referred for cancer tests, patients are more likely to be dissatisfied with their overall care, according to our researchers. The Daily Telegraph, Mail Online and Mirror covered this one (here’s our press release).
  • “Single injection could improve womens’ chances of SURVIVING recurrent ovarian cancer” claims the Express. Not quite – this work was done with mice and cells grow in a lab, so there’s a long way to go before this could become something to be tested in a clinical trial.
  • Scientists say they have made a ‘breakthrough’ development using a gene-editing technology called CRISPR, which could help precisely modify genes inside cells – something that could open up new avenues for cancer research. The Independent has more on this.
  • The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated its guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. The BBC has the details.
  • And NICE also released new draft guidance on how all patients, not just those affected by cancer, are cared for at the end of their lives. The BBC also covered this.
  • Should scientists be required to explain their research to the public? The Daily Telegraph explores.
  • US scientists have developed a sci-fi-sounding technique to create microscopic lasers inside cells. It’s still very early days for this, but they believe it may help improve how scientists take pictures of cancer cells. Popular Science and Discover Magazine have more on this.
  • The Mail Online ran a misleading report on new research looking at how healthy behaviour when we’re younger might impact on our risk of cancer in later life. The study wasn’t strong enough to back up the headline: “Teenagers who exercise for just 15 minutes a day slash their risk of cancer later in life by 20%”.

Number of the week:

5

The number of distinct types of prostate cancer our scientists uncovered this week.

  • UK scientists will test out a new radiotherapy machine with a built-in MRI scanner, to see if it can make treatment more precise. The Daily Express has the details on the studies being proposed, and the Institute of Cancer Research also blogged about the announcement.
  • Black men in England have double the risk of being both diagnosed with, and dying from, prostate cancer at some point in their lives, compared with white men. Our news report has the details, and here’s the Guardian and Mail Online’s take on the study.
  • A purified chemical from seaweed “stood up well to heat and light”, according to a study featured in this Mail Online article implying this could make sunscreen better. But the key question is how well it could work at preventing sunburn and reducing harmful exposure to sunlight in people. (But no sunscreen can provide 100 per cent protection, so it’s best to enjoy the sun safely). More tips and advice here.
  • This interesting article from The New York Times looks at how rogue cells that in many cases would be defined as ‘cancer’ can affect organisms across the natural world.
  • Traces of DNA from the human papillomavirus found in oral rinses could lead to a way to track how throat cancer responds to treatment. Our news report has the details.
  • Researchers in Southampton have developed an experimental molecule that can affect the way cells use energy. The Mail Online has more on this early research, which could one day lead to new drugs.
  • ‘Breaking Bad’ came to life this week, as a group mirroring the plotline for the popular TV series were jailed. The BBC has the story.
  • Early research showed that an arthritis drug could be repurposed as a potential treatment for some blood cancers. Oncology Nurse Advisor has more on this.
  • The American Cancer Society’s Dr Len took a fascinating look at how, despite huge advances in genetics, it’s still really important to know your family history.
  • The Medical Research Council blogged about its new £16m joint funding for ‘molecular pathology nodes’ (centres of expertise across different sectors and disciplines) – accelerating new types of test into the NHS.
  • Health News Review took a critical look at promises by eminent scientists to ‘cure cancer within a decade’ – something also discussed in a blog post on Forbes.

And finally

  • “Could one glass of red wine a day keep bowel cancer at bay?” ask the Mail Online. ‘No’ is the answer. This headline came from a new study by our scientists in Leicester who found that a chemical found in red grapes – called resveratrol – may be good in small doses to prevent bowel cancer in mice. Our blog post has all the information you need (with a large glass of caveats).

Arya



from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1IePJUn

Saturn dominates August 2015 night sky

From the Northern hemisphere, It'll be extremely hard to see the planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter sitting in the glare of evening twilight. All three planets follow the sun beneath the horizon before darkness falls.

From the Northern hemisphere, it’ll be tough to see the planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter sitting in the glare of evening twilight. All three planets follow the sun beneath the horizon before darkness falls. Mars is near the sun, too, but in the predawn sky.

Here's the view from Cape Town in the Southern Hemisphere. Although it'll be difficult to spot Mercury in early August, there's a chance of catching Jupiter and Venus as dusk gives way to darkness. These two brilliant worlds stay out longer after sunset in the Southern Hemisphere than they do in the Northern Hemisphere.

Here’s the view from Cape Town in the Southern Hemisphere. Although it’ll be difficult to spot Mercury in early August, there’s a chance of catching Jupiter and Venus as dusk gives way to darkness. These two brilliant worlds stay out longer after sunset in the Southern Hemisphere than they do in the Northern Hemisphere.

Meteors ahead! Everything you need to know: Perseid meteor shower

It’s unusual for Saturn – typically the least noticeable of the bright planets – to reign as the dominate planet in our night sky. But in August, 2015, Saturn does just that. Throughout this month, as seen from around the world, the ringed planet pops out first thing at nightfall and lights up the nighttime until late night. Saturn stays out until around midnight (1 a.m. Daylight Saving Time) at mid-northern latitudes. At mid-southern latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the ringed planet stays out for a few hours past the midnight hour.

Venus and Jupiter rank as the third-brightest and fourth-brightest celestial objects, respectively, after the sun and moon. They’re the brightest planets in Earth’s sky.

But – despite their brightness – it’ll take a deliberate effort to see Jupiter or Venus in August, 2015. Both worlds swing from the evening to morning sky in this month. Venus passes between us and the sun on August 15, sweeping 8 degrees south of the sun as seen from our earthly perspective. Jupiter, an outer planet, is most directly behind the sun from Earth on August 26. So these worlds sit in the glare of sunset in early August and then in the glare of sunrise in late August, 2015.

The Southern Hemisphere has a leg up over the Northern Hemisphere in early August, for catching Venus and Jupiter at dusk.

Both hemispheres will probably see Venus returning to the morning sky by late August.

The Northern Hemisphere has the upper hand for catching Jupiter when it becomes a morning “star” in September 2015.

Mercury and Mars are near the sun for much of August, 2015, too. Mercury is in the evening sky, not far from Venus and Jupiter. It’ll languish in the sunset glare for Northern Hemisphere viewers until late August, but, throughout August, 2015, Southern Hemisphere observers enjoy a better view of Mercury in the evening sky.

Mercury will go on to have the Southern Hemisphere’s best evening apparition for 2015 in early September.

Mars is near the sunrise, not the sunset. It’ll probably come into view for careful observers, rising before the sun, in late August. Northern Hemisphere observers have the best chance of catching Mars in the morning sky as the month ends. Southern Hemisphere observers probably will have to wait until September to see Mars.

Bottom line: In short, all the visible planets – except for Saturn – lurk near the glare of twilight throughout August 2015.

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

Donate: Your support means the world to us



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1JCvFQf
From the Northern hemisphere, It'll be extremely hard to see the planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter sitting in the glare of evening twilight. All three planets follow the sun beneath the horizon before darkness falls.

From the Northern hemisphere, it’ll be tough to see the planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter sitting in the glare of evening twilight. All three planets follow the sun beneath the horizon before darkness falls. Mars is near the sun, too, but in the predawn sky.

Here's the view from Cape Town in the Southern Hemisphere. Although it'll be difficult to spot Mercury in early August, there's a chance of catching Jupiter and Venus as dusk gives way to darkness. These two brilliant worlds stay out longer after sunset in the Southern Hemisphere than they do in the Northern Hemisphere.

Here’s the view from Cape Town in the Southern Hemisphere. Although it’ll be difficult to spot Mercury in early August, there’s a chance of catching Jupiter and Venus as dusk gives way to darkness. These two brilliant worlds stay out longer after sunset in the Southern Hemisphere than they do in the Northern Hemisphere.

Meteors ahead! Everything you need to know: Perseid meteor shower

It’s unusual for Saturn – typically the least noticeable of the bright planets – to reign as the dominate planet in our night sky. But in August, 2015, Saturn does just that. Throughout this month, as seen from around the world, the ringed planet pops out first thing at nightfall and lights up the nighttime until late night. Saturn stays out until around midnight (1 a.m. Daylight Saving Time) at mid-northern latitudes. At mid-southern latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the ringed planet stays out for a few hours past the midnight hour.

Venus and Jupiter rank as the third-brightest and fourth-brightest celestial objects, respectively, after the sun and moon. They’re the brightest planets in Earth’s sky.

But – despite their brightness – it’ll take a deliberate effort to see Jupiter or Venus in August, 2015. Both worlds swing from the evening to morning sky in this month. Venus passes between us and the sun on August 15, sweeping 8 degrees south of the sun as seen from our earthly perspective. Jupiter, an outer planet, is most directly behind the sun from Earth on August 26. So these worlds sit in the glare of sunset in early August and then in the glare of sunrise in late August, 2015.

The Southern Hemisphere has a leg up over the Northern Hemisphere in early August, for catching Venus and Jupiter at dusk.

Both hemispheres will probably see Venus returning to the morning sky by late August.

The Northern Hemisphere has the upper hand for catching Jupiter when it becomes a morning “star” in September 2015.

Mercury and Mars are near the sun for much of August, 2015, too. Mercury is in the evening sky, not far from Venus and Jupiter. It’ll languish in the sunset glare for Northern Hemisphere viewers until late August, but, throughout August, 2015, Southern Hemisphere observers enjoy a better view of Mercury in the evening sky.

Mercury will go on to have the Southern Hemisphere’s best evening apparition for 2015 in early September.

Mars is near the sunrise, not the sunset. It’ll probably come into view for careful observers, rising before the sun, in late August. Northern Hemisphere observers have the best chance of catching Mars in the morning sky as the month ends. Southern Hemisphere observers probably will have to wait until September to see Mars.

Bottom line: In short, all the visible planets – except for Saturn – lurk near the glare of twilight throughout August 2015.

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

Donate: Your support means the world to us



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