GodsThumb

The first analysis of the genome sequence of the duck-billed platypus has been published revealing clues about genome organization during the early evolution of mammals. “At first glance, the platypus appears as if it was the result of an evolutionary accident,” said Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). “But as weird as this animal looks, its genome sequence is priceless for understanding how fundamental mammalian biological processes have evolved.”

Image courtesy of NHGRI

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Amazingly, there are only three fruits native to North America. Can you name them?

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We never think of chocolate and famous military figures at the same time. We tend to think of chocolate as an indulgence, something to be savored as a reward for doing something spectacular or something we eat when we are stressed and need a quick pick me up. Apparently, Napoleon shared our addiction. According to legend, he always made sure that he had a piece of chocolate tucked into his pocket. Whenever he needed a quick pick me up, he ate it. Perhaps that is why so many chocolate deserts have the word Napoleon worked into their names.

Fashion Advice

Stuffing bits of chocolate into his pockets wasn’t the only thing that the leader of the French Revolution did that was a little bit different. You know the buttons that are on the end of the sleeves on sports coats, the ones near the cuff that don’t seem to have any purpose. You can thank Napoleon for those as well. He didn’t put the buttons on the jacket sleeves for decoration. He had them sewn onto the sleeves of his officer’s coats because he was repulsed by the men using their sleeves as handkerchiefs to wipe their noses, mouths, and brows. The buttons effectively stopped this behavior.

Josephine

Most people don’t realize that Napoleon married twice, both times to the same women. The first time he married his young bride, Josephine, was in 1796. Before this marriage Josephine was imprisoned and very nearly beheaded. Before their marriage Josephine went by her first name, Marie, but after the ceremony Napoleon started calling her by her second name, Josephine. The second time Napoleon married Josephine was just before he become the Emperor of France. The pair’s marriage was annulled when it became apparent that Josephine couldn’t have children. Josephine niece eventually became the Queen of Holland.

 There are too many moments in Olympic history that you could categorize as “unfair”.  Here is a glimpse at our top five greatest blunders in Olympic history.

1) 1976, 1980 & 1984 Summer Olympics - Let’s Trade Boycotts

The 1980 and 1984 boycotts left a lot of Olympic athletes on the sidelines, but these were not the only times boycotts have occured.  In 1976, 26 countries boycotted the games in Montreal due to protests over Apartheid in South Africa .. the offending party was New Zealand who played Rugby in South Africa. Moreover, China boycotted the Olympics until 1984 because Taiwan was recognized as its own country.

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By combining information from the camera’s blue-green, red and near-infrared color filters, scientists confirmed that material around the rim of Phobos’ largest surface feature, Stickney crater, appears bluer than the rest of Phobos. The impact that excavated the 9-kilometer (about 5.5 mile) in diameter Stickney crater is thought to have almost shattered the moon.

“Based on analogy with material on our own moon, the bluer color could mean that the material is fresher, or hasn’t been exposed to space as long as the rest of Phobos’ surface has,” Bridges said.

The new view shows landslides along the walls of Stickney and other large craters: Phobos’ striking surface grooves and crater chains; and craters hidden on the moon’s dark side illuminated by “Marsshine.”

“Marsshine” is sunlight reflected by Mars onto the moon. The phenomenon is similar to “Earthshine,” where Earth reflects sunlight that illuminates the dark side of our moon. Like Earth’s moon, Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos are “tidally locked” on their planet, that is, they always present the same side to the planet they orbit.

These images are among several new HiRISE images being released at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/20080409.html. The images include an anaglyph, or 3D view of Phobos that can be viewed with red-blue glasses.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flies at about 4,800 kilometers per hour (7,800 mph) between 250 to 316 kilometers (155 and 196 miles) above the surface of Mars.

An emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Wis., has studied the link between the virus Ad-36 and obesity.  The professor, Richard Atkinson,  researched chickens, mice and marmosets.  He found that these animals were fatter after becoming infected with a human adenovirus that usually causes colds, eye infections and diarrhea.  Tests found about 30 percent of obese people had been exposed to the virus, compared with 11 percent of non-obese people. The study looked at over 500 people.

The Eastern or Moutain Bongo of Kenya is an extremenly rare antelope. Theses antelope are only found in one remote region of Keyna. Bongos are the largest and heaviest antelope and are recognizable by their stripes and spiraled horns. In the 1890’s, the disease rinderpest almost exterminated the species. They havea  bright reddish-brown color and have very clear, white-yellow stripes and black markings. 

The animal orphanage at Mount Kenya has had a very successful breeding program that has brought back more bongos in captivity than are our in the wild. They said there are currently less than 100 of these animals.

What or who is a superdelegate?

There are 800 superdelegates casting 795 votes (”Democrats Abroad” get 1/2 vote)  The news has prominently shown us Dan Abrams - he is a college age superdelegate. That could mean anyone can be a superdelegate .. right? Don’t be decieved.   

Superdelegates are senior Democratic National Party (DNC) officials that include (a) Democratic governors, senators, and members of the House of Representatives, (b) an elected member of the Democratic National Committee,  (c) A distinguished party leader like former Democratic presidents, or (d) a DNC member at-large who has recieved the blessing of  party chairman Howard Dean and the confidence vote of the DNC membership.

How do superdelegates fit into nominating the next Democratic presidential candidate?

The next Democratic presidential nominee needs 2,025 delegates and superdelegates will need to account for about 40 percent of delagate votes. 

  
Where can I find a list of superdelegates and  find out who have pledged to vote for Obama or Clinton?

Currently, over half the superdelegates have pledged their votes for one of the candidates. To see a list, go to:

http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-list.html

This link shows the official list of superdelegates as of February 26.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will make an unprecedented “in your face” flyby of Saturn’s moon Enceladus on Wed., March 12.

The spacecraft, orchestrating its closest approach to date, will skirt along the edges of huge Old-Faithful-like geysers erupting from giant fractures on the south pole of Enceladus. Cassini will sample scientifically valuable water-ice, dust and gas in the plume.

The source of the geysers is of great interest to scientists who think liquid water, perhaps even an ocean, may exist in the area. While flying through the edge of the plumes, Cassini will be approximately 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the surface. At closest approach to Enceladus, Cassini will be only 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the moon.

“This daring flyby requires exquisite technical finesse, but it has the potential to revolutionize our knowledge of the geysers of Enceladus. The Cassini mission team is eager to see the scientific results, and so am I,” said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.  

Scientists and mission personnel studying the anatomy of the plumes have found that flying at these close distances poses little threat to Cassini because, despite the high speed of Cassini, the plume particles are small. The spacecraft routinely crosses regions made up of dust-size particles in its orbit around Saturn.

Cassini’s cameras will take a back seat on this flyby as the main focus turns to the spacecraft’s particle analyzers that will study the composition of the plumes. The cameras will image Enceladus on the way in and out, between the observations of the particle analyzers.

Images will reveal northern regions of the moon previously not captured by Cassini. The analyzers will “sniff and taste” the plume. Information on the density, size, composition and speed of the gas and the particles will be collected.

“There are two types of particles coming from Enceladus, one pure water-ice, the other water-ice mixed with other stuff,” said Sascha Kempf, deputy principal investigator for Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. “We think the clean water-ice particles are being bounced off the surface and the dirty water-ice particles are coming from inside the moon. This flyby will show us whether this concept is right or wrong.”

In 2005, Cassini’s multiple instruments discovered that this icy outpost is gushing water vapor geysers out to a distance of three times the radius of Enceladus. The moon is only 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter, but despite its petite size, it’s one of the most scientifically compelling bodies in our solar system. The icy water particles are roughly one ten-thousandth of an inch, or about the width of a human hair. The particles and gas escape the surface at jet speed at approximately 400 meters per second (800 miles per hour). The eruptions appear to be continuous, refreshing the surface and generating an enormous halo of fine ice dust around Enceladus, which supplies material to one of Saturn’s rings, the E-ring.

Several gases, including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, perhaps a little ammonia and either carbon monoxide or nitrogen gas make up the gaseous envelope of the plume.

“We want to know if there is a difference in composition of gases coming from the plume versus the material surrounding the moon. This may help answer the question of how the plume formed,” said Hunter Waite, principal investigator for Cassini’s Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer at the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio.

This is the first of four Cassini flybys of Enceladus this year. In June, Cassini completes its prime mission, a four-year tour of Saturn. Cassini’s next flyby of Enceladus is planned for August, well into Cassini’s proposed extended mission. Cassini will perform seven Enceladus flybys in its extended mission. If this encounter proves safe, future passes may bring the spacecraft even closer than this one. How close Cassini will be allowed to approach will be determined based on data from this flyby.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

For images, videos and a mission blog on the flyby, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini . More information on the Cassini mission is also available at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .