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London, June 2 (ANI): Two scientists, a Canadian and a Briton, have in a new mathematical study proved that giraffes can swim, but added that this species wouldn't be very good at it.According to Dr. Donald Henderson, of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Canada and Dr Darren Naish, of the University of Portsmouth in Britain, most large animals are extremely good swimmers, but so far nobody has seen or heard of giraffe swimming or wading.Using a digital giraffe in digital water, both decided to investigate whether or not giraffes could swim.The results of their study, which appear in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, found that giraffes could actually swim based on numerous calculations of weight, mass, size, shape, lung capacity, centre of gravity and rotational dynamics.Dr. Naish said: "Many previous studies have claimed that giraffes cannot swim and that they avoid water like the plague, even in an emergency, but we wanted to put the theory to the test in proper controlled experiments."In their study, both authors found that a full-sized adult giraffe would become buoyant in 2.8metres of water. Giraffes can wade across bodies of water that are shallower.Dr Henderson said: "The idea that giraffes are poor waders or will not cross rivers is untrue and there are no obvious reasons why giraffes might be more prone to sinking than other animals."But after becoming buoyant, they said a giraffe would be unstable in the water due to its long, heavy legs, short body and long neck.The unusual shape of the giraffe meant that it floated in a peculiar manner, with the long front limbs pulling the body downwards.This forced the neck to be held horizontally and mostly underneath the water surface, so the animal would have to hold its head upwards at an uncomfortable angle.Giraffes have other handicaps in the water. Horses tend to swim by trotting in the water, similar to the way they move on land.But giraffes move on land in an unusual way, moving their neck up and down in time with their limbs, and this important neck movement is not possible in the water.This means that giraffes are probably very poor swimmers.Giraffes also have 13 per cent more surface area than a horse, mostly because of their longer legs, leading to a greater drag.A further complication is that larger animals have slower muscle contractions, making it difficult for a giraffe to paddle fast enough to move forward.The Telegraph quoted Dr. Naish, as concluding: "Our models show that while it's feasible for a giraffe to swim, it is much harder than it is for a horse. It is fair to say that giraffes might be hesitant to enter the water knowing that they are at a decided disadvantage compared to being on solid ground." (ANI)
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Monday, November 29, 1999
Scientists identify new gecko species in West African rain forests
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): According to a new report, the West African forest gecko, a secretive but widely distributed species in forest patches from Ghana to Congo, is actually four distinct species that appear to have evolved over the past 100,000 years due to the fragmentation of a belt of tropical rain forest.The report has been published in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.The discovery by former University of California, Berkeley, students Adam D. Leachi and Matthew K. Fujita demonstrates the wealth of biodiversity still surviving in the islands of tropical rain forest in West Africa, and the ability of new DNA analysis techniques to distinguish different species, even when they look alike."We tended to find this gecko, Hemidactylus fasciatus, throughout our travels in West Africa," said Leachi, a herpetologist with UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. "Despite the fact that it is recognized as one species, using new methods we have established a high probability that it is composed of at least four species."Though the forest fragmentation is part of a long-term drying trend in West Africa, the loss of forest and the resultant impact on the gecko is increasing as a result of human activity, he noted."These rain forests are classified as one of the biodiversity hotspots on the planet, yet they are one of the most endangered areas on the earth," Leachi said. "Human deforestation is accentuating the process of habitat destruction." (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): According to a new report, the West African forest gecko, a secretive but widely distributed species in forest patches from Ghana to Congo, is actually four distinct species that appear to have evolved over the past 100,000 years due to the fragmentation of a belt of tropical rain forest.The report has been published in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.The discovery by former University of California, Berkeley, students Adam D. Leachi and Matthew K. Fujita demonstrates the wealth of biodiversity still surviving in the islands of tropical rain forest in West Africa, and the ability of new DNA analysis techniques to distinguish different species, even when they look alike."We tended to find this gecko, Hemidactylus fasciatus, throughout our travels in West Africa," said Leachi, a herpetologist with UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. "Despite the fact that it is recognized as one species, using new methods we have established a high probability that it is composed of at least four species."Though the forest fragmentation is part of a long-term drying trend in West Africa, the loss of forest and the resultant impact on the gecko is increasing as a result of human activity, he noted."These rain forests are classified as one of the biodiversity hotspots on the planet, yet they are one of the most endangered areas on the earth," Leachi said. "Human deforestation is accentuating the process of habitat destruction." (ANI)
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New motorcyclists face doubled risk of accidents
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Sydney, June 2 (IANS) New motorcyclists face a much higher risk of a serious accident than any other mode of travelling.'The crash risk for new riders is around double that for more experienced riders,' says Matthew Baldock, a research fellow with the University of Adelaide Centre for Automotive Safety Research.'There are increasing numbers of people riding motorcycles, particularly scooters, and older riders - people in their 40s - taking it up,' says Baldock.'There are a lot more people riding motorcycles and an increasing proportion of motorcycle riders in the road toll.'Baldock says motorcycle riders are at greater injury risk because they are less protected than in other vehicles, said an University of Adelaide release.But motorcycle accidents could be reduced through changes to licensing regulations, including increasing the minimum age, increasing the time new riders have to spend on provisional and learner licences and increased mandatory training.
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Sydney, June 2 (IANS) New motorcyclists face a much higher risk of a serious accident than any other mode of travelling.'The crash risk for new riders is around double that for more experienced riders,' says Matthew Baldock, a research fellow with the University of Adelaide Centre for Automotive Safety Research.'There are increasing numbers of people riding motorcycles, particularly scooters, and older riders - people in their 40s - taking it up,' says Baldock.'There are a lot more people riding motorcycles and an increasing proportion of motorcycle riders in the road toll.'Baldock says motorcycle riders are at greater injury risk because they are less protected than in other vehicles, said an University of Adelaide release.But motorcycle accidents could be reduced through changes to licensing regulations, including increasing the minimum age, increasing the time new riders have to spend on provisional and learner licences and increased mandatory training.
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Now, model to predict hurricanes this season
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): American scientists have unveiled a unique computer model that can predict this year's hurricane season.Associate Scholar Scientist Tim LaRow and his colleagues at Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) say there will be an average of 17 named storms with 10 of those storms developing into hurricanes in the Atlantic this season, which begins June 1, and runs through Nov. 30.The historical seasonal average is 11 tropical storms with six of them becoming hurricanes.LaRow said: "It looks like it will be a very busy season, and it only takes one hurricane making landfall to have devastating effects."The predicted high number of tropical systems means there is an increased chance that the eastern United States or Gulf Coast will see a landfall this year."The COAPS model, unveiled just last year, is one of only a handful of numerical models in the world being used to study seasonal hurricane activity, and it has already outperformed many other models.The model uses the university's high-performance computer to synthesize massive amounts of information including atmospheric, ocean and land data.A key component of the COAPS model is the use of predicted sea surface temperatures.The 2009 forecast, the model's first, was on target: It predicted a below-average season, with a mean of eight named storms with four of them developing into hurricanes.There were nine named storms with three that became hurricanes.The model's 2009 forecast, plus its hindcasts of the previous 14 hurricane seasons - that's when the data that existed prior to each season is plugged into the model to reforecast the season and then compared to what actually occurred - really show the model's precision.From 1995 to 2009, the model predicted a mean of 13.7 named storms of which a mean of 7.8 were hurricanes.In reality, the average during this period was 13.8 named storms with a mean of 7.9 hurricanes.How the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will affect the development of tropical storms this year is a question that scientists are still trying to figure out, LaRow said.The oil on the ocean surface can diminish the amount of surface evaporation, which would lead to local increased ocean temperatures near the surface, but LaRow said he's made no adjustments to the model to account for the oil that continues to gush from an underwater well.He said: "The oil spill will probably have little influence on the hurricane season, but we don't know for sure since this spill is unprecedented."It's uncertain how exactly the atmospheric and oceanic conditions might change if the spill continues to grow."COAPS researchers spent about five years developing and assessing the numerical model before putting it to the test with its first real-time forecast last year. (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): American scientists have unveiled a unique computer model that can predict this year's hurricane season.Associate Scholar Scientist Tim LaRow and his colleagues at Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) say there will be an average of 17 named storms with 10 of those storms developing into hurricanes in the Atlantic this season, which begins June 1, and runs through Nov. 30.The historical seasonal average is 11 tropical storms with six of them becoming hurricanes.LaRow said: "It looks like it will be a very busy season, and it only takes one hurricane making landfall to have devastating effects."The predicted high number of tropical systems means there is an increased chance that the eastern United States or Gulf Coast will see a landfall this year."The COAPS model, unveiled just last year, is one of only a handful of numerical models in the world being used to study seasonal hurricane activity, and it has already outperformed many other models.The model uses the university's high-performance computer to synthesize massive amounts of information including atmospheric, ocean and land data.A key component of the COAPS model is the use of predicted sea surface temperatures.The 2009 forecast, the model's first, was on target: It predicted a below-average season, with a mean of eight named storms with four of them developing into hurricanes.There were nine named storms with three that became hurricanes.The model's 2009 forecast, plus its hindcasts of the previous 14 hurricane seasons - that's when the data that existed prior to each season is plugged into the model to reforecast the season and then compared to what actually occurred - really show the model's precision.From 1995 to 2009, the model predicted a mean of 13.7 named storms of which a mean of 7.8 were hurricanes.In reality, the average during this period was 13.8 named storms with a mean of 7.9 hurricanes.How the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will affect the development of tropical storms this year is a question that scientists are still trying to figure out, LaRow said.The oil on the ocean surface can diminish the amount of surface evaporation, which would lead to local increased ocean temperatures near the surface, but LaRow said he's made no adjustments to the model to account for the oil that continues to gush from an underwater well.He said: "The oil spill will probably have little influence on the hurricane season, but we don't know for sure since this spill is unprecedented."It's uncertain how exactly the atmospheric and oceanic conditions might change if the spill continues to grow."COAPS researchers spent about five years developing and assessing the numerical model before putting it to the test with its first real-time forecast last year. (ANI)
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Scientists uncover the mystery of a major threat to wheat
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Scientists of the US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found why a pathogen that threatens the world's wheat supply can be so adaptable, diverse and virulent.It is because the fungus that causes the wheat disease called stripe rust may use sexual recombination to adapt to resistant varieties of wheat.ARS plant pathologist Yue Jin and his colleagues Les Szabo and Marty Carson at the agency's Cereal Disease Laboratory at St. Paul, Minn., have shown for the first time that stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis, is capable of sexually reproducing on the leaves of an alternate host called barberry, a common ornamental.The fungus also goes through asexual mutation.But sexual recombination offers an advantage because it promotes rapid reshuffling of virulence gene combinations and produces a genetic mix more likely to pass along traits that improve the chances for survival.Barberry (Berberis spp) is already controlled in areas where wheat is threatened by stem rust, caused by another fungal pathogen.But the work by the ARS team is expected to lead to better control of barberry in areas like the Pacific Northwest, where cool temperatures during most of the wheat growing season make stripe rust a particular threat.The researchers suspended wheat straw infected with the stripe rust pathogen over barberry plants and found that fungal spores from the wheat infected the barberry.They also took infected barberry leaves, treated them to promote the release of spores, and exposed them to wheat.Tests confirmed that the wheat plants were infected within about 10 days.The researchers began the study last year after finding infected leaves on barberry plants at two sites on the University of Minnesota campus.They initially thought the symptoms were a sign that the stem rust pathogen had overcome the resistance commonly found in US varieties of barberry.Instead, they found barberry serving as a sexual or "alternate" host for stripe rust.When the overwintering spores of the stripe rust fungus germinate in the spring, they produce spores that reach barberry leaves, forming structures on the top of the leaves that allow mating between races or strains of the fungus. Spores resulting from this mating can, in turn, infect wheat. (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Scientists of the US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found why a pathogen that threatens the world's wheat supply can be so adaptable, diverse and virulent.It is because the fungus that causes the wheat disease called stripe rust may use sexual recombination to adapt to resistant varieties of wheat.ARS plant pathologist Yue Jin and his colleagues Les Szabo and Marty Carson at the agency's Cereal Disease Laboratory at St. Paul, Minn., have shown for the first time that stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis, is capable of sexually reproducing on the leaves of an alternate host called barberry, a common ornamental.The fungus also goes through asexual mutation.But sexual recombination offers an advantage because it promotes rapid reshuffling of virulence gene combinations and produces a genetic mix more likely to pass along traits that improve the chances for survival.Barberry (Berberis spp) is already controlled in areas where wheat is threatened by stem rust, caused by another fungal pathogen.But the work by the ARS team is expected to lead to better control of barberry in areas like the Pacific Northwest, where cool temperatures during most of the wheat growing season make stripe rust a particular threat.The researchers suspended wheat straw infected with the stripe rust pathogen over barberry plants and found that fungal spores from the wheat infected the barberry.They also took infected barberry leaves, treated them to promote the release of spores, and exposed them to wheat.Tests confirmed that the wheat plants were infected within about 10 days.The researchers began the study last year after finding infected leaves on barberry plants at two sites on the University of Minnesota campus.They initially thought the symptoms were a sign that the stem rust pathogen had overcome the resistance commonly found in US varieties of barberry.Instead, they found barberry serving as a sexual or "alternate" host for stripe rust.When the overwintering spores of the stripe rust fungus germinate in the spring, they produce spores that reach barberry leaves, forming structures on the top of the leaves that allow mating between races or strains of the fungus. Spores resulting from this mating can, in turn, infect wheat. (ANI)
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Blocking DNA repair protein likely to make cancer therapy safer
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Blocking DNA repair protein could lead to targeted, safer cancer therapy, according to a new American research.The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the School of Medicine, has appeared in Science Signaling.The work provides new insights into mechanisms of how the body fixes environmentally induced DNA damage and into the deadly neurological disease ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), said senior author Christopher Bakkenist, assistant professor of radiation oncology, pharmacology and chemical biology at UPCI and the School of Medicine.He said: "A characteristic symptom of A-T is heightened sensitivity to ionizing radiation, such as X-rays and gamma rays."If we understand why that happens, then we might be able to reproduce it to make tumor cells vulnerable to radiation treatments while sparing healthy cells, which would make therapy more effective while minimizing side effects."In A-T, brain areas that control movement progressively degenerate, causing walking and balance problems.Patients carry a gene mutation that stops production of a protein called ATM kinase, which spurs other proteins involved in normal cell division, DNA repair and cell death.Radiation causes DNA mutations during the process of cell division, when genetic material is copied for a new cell to form.The cell has repair pathways that include checkpoints to look for errors as well as methods to repair them, but if enough mutations accumulate, the cell could become cancerous or self-destruct.A-T patients, who lack the kinase, have a higher risk for developing cancer, Dr. Bakkenist said.He and his colleagues tested what would happen if they blocked the activity of ATM kinase in cells that make the protein.They had already determined that administering an ATM kinase inhibitor from 15 minutes to 75 minutes after radiation exposure was sufficient to make normal cells more sensitive to the effects of radiation.To their surprise, they found that inactivation of ATM kinase prevented a type of DNA repair that is essential for proper duplication of genetic material during replication.However, A-T cells did not have this problem despite lacking the kinase; they presumably use another method to check for and correct those errors.The discovery revealed a new approach to target cancer.Dr. Bakkenist explained: "A characteristic of tumor cells is that they rapidly replicate, possibly because they have mutations that encourage cell division or that thwart repair pathways."But ATM kinase remains present in the vast majority of human cancers, so that suggests it is needed by those diseased cells during replication."Cells that, unlike cancer cells, are not going through what's known as replication stress, would not be affected by an ATM inhibitor and, like A-T cells, likely have another way of repairing certain radiation-induced mutations, he said.Dr. Bakkenist said: "So that would make cancer cells particularly vulnerable to an ATM inhibitor, while healthy cells should be unaffected." (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Blocking DNA repair protein could lead to targeted, safer cancer therapy, according to a new American research.The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the School of Medicine, has appeared in Science Signaling.The work provides new insights into mechanisms of how the body fixes environmentally induced DNA damage and into the deadly neurological disease ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), said senior author Christopher Bakkenist, assistant professor of radiation oncology, pharmacology and chemical biology at UPCI and the School of Medicine.He said: "A characteristic symptom of A-T is heightened sensitivity to ionizing radiation, such as X-rays and gamma rays."If we understand why that happens, then we might be able to reproduce it to make tumor cells vulnerable to radiation treatments while sparing healthy cells, which would make therapy more effective while minimizing side effects."In A-T, brain areas that control movement progressively degenerate, causing walking and balance problems.Patients carry a gene mutation that stops production of a protein called ATM kinase, which spurs other proteins involved in normal cell division, DNA repair and cell death.Radiation causes DNA mutations during the process of cell division, when genetic material is copied for a new cell to form.The cell has repair pathways that include checkpoints to look for errors as well as methods to repair them, but if enough mutations accumulate, the cell could become cancerous or self-destruct.A-T patients, who lack the kinase, have a higher risk for developing cancer, Dr. Bakkenist said.He and his colleagues tested what would happen if they blocked the activity of ATM kinase in cells that make the protein.They had already determined that administering an ATM kinase inhibitor from 15 minutes to 75 minutes after radiation exposure was sufficient to make normal cells more sensitive to the effects of radiation.To their surprise, they found that inactivation of ATM kinase prevented a type of DNA repair that is essential for proper duplication of genetic material during replication.However, A-T cells did not have this problem despite lacking the kinase; they presumably use another method to check for and correct those errors.The discovery revealed a new approach to target cancer.Dr. Bakkenist explained: "A characteristic of tumor cells is that they rapidly replicate, possibly because they have mutations that encourage cell division or that thwart repair pathways."But ATM kinase remains present in the vast majority of human cancers, so that suggests it is needed by those diseased cells during replication."Cells that, unlike cancer cells, are not going through what's known as replication stress, would not be affected by an ATM inhibitor and, like A-T cells, likely have another way of repairing certain radiation-induced mutations, he said.Dr. Bakkenist said: "So that would make cancer cells particularly vulnerable to an ATM inhibitor, while healthy cells should be unaffected." (ANI)
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Walt Whitman meteor mystery solved
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): A team of astronomers from Texas State University-San Marcos have applied its unique brand of forensic astronomy to reveal the secret behind famed poet Walt Whitman's description of a "strange huge meteor-procession" in his landmark collection Leaves of Grass.While scholars have debated the possible inspiration for decades, it is now that researchers have rediscovered one of the most famous celestial events of Whitman's day-one that inspired both Whitman and famed landscape painter Frederic Church -- yet became inexplicably forgotten by modern times."This is the 150th anniversary of the event that inspired both Whitman and Church. It was an Earth-grazing meteor procession," said Donald Olson, who conducted the study with Russell Doescher, English professor Marilynn S. Olson and Honours Program student Ava G. Pope.Whitman, known as a keen observer of the sky, included significant references to contemporary as well as cosmic events in his poem 'Year of Meteors. (1859-60.)' published in Leaves of Grass.A "great comet" in the poem that appeared unexpectedly in the northern sky is readily identified as the Great Comet of 1860, which follows the path Whitman described and was seen by most of the world.From Whitman's description, the Texas State research team immediately suspected the other celestial event he wrote about was the rare phenomenon known as an Earth-grazing meteor procession."Meteor processions are so rare most people have never heard of them. There was one in 1783 and a Canadian fireball procession in 1913. Those were all the meteor processions we knew of," said Olson.An Earth-grazing meteor is one where the trajectory takes the meteor through the Earth's atmosphere and back out into interplanetary space without ever striking the ground.A meteor procession occurs when a meteor breaks up upon entering the atmosphere, creating multiple meteors travelling in nearly identical paths.The rarity of meteor processions, however, has proven problematic to scholars. Whitman's description has alternately been ascribed to the 1833 Leonid meteor storm, the 1858 Leonids and a widely-observed fireball in 1859.Although Whitman is documented as having observed the 1833 Leonids, the Texas State researchers were able to discount that meteor storm because the timeframe conflicts with the poem's, and Whitman's descriptions of the two events are very different.The 1858 Leonids were also discounted after the research team discovered a dating error misattributing some of Whitman's observations of the 1833 Leonids to the latter year.On the other hand, the 1859 fireball was well documented and happened during the timeframe of the poem.However, the fireball was a single meteor, not a procession.Compounding the problem, the 1859 fireball was a daylight meteor, whereas Whitman describes the procession as happening at night.A chance clue from the 19th century artist Frederic Church proved key to unravelling the mystery.A decade ago, Olson saw a painting on the back cover of an exhibition catalog, which showed the scene Whitman had described.Church's painting, titled "The Meteor of 1860," clearly depicted a meteor procession.Other than that, the catalog also gave the date of Church's observance: July 20, 1860, well within the timeframe of Whitman's poem."We went to Church's house, and the people who know him and his art well, who've studied him, say, 'Oh, he wouldn't have painted it like that based on somebody's say-so. He must have seen it. The artist and his wife, who were honeymooning that summer, kept the painting in their bedroom for many years,'" said Olson."We went to a small research library and found old diaries of Theodore Cole, a friend of Church's, from July of 1860. They tell us Church was, in fact, in Catskill, New York, so he wasn't off in some far distant land," said Pope.Armed with this intriguing new date, the Texas State researchers found that a large Earth-grazing meteor broke apart on the evening of July 20, 1860, creating a spectacular procession of multiple fireballs visible from the Great Lakes to New York State as it burned through the atmosphere and continued out over the Atlantic Ocean."Any town that had a newspaper within all those states is going have a story on this. We have hundreds of eyewitness accounts, but there are probably hundreds more we don't even have," said Olson."From all the observations in towns up and down the Hudson River Valley, we're able to determine the meteor's appearance down to the hour and minute. Church observed it at 9:49 p.m. when the meteor passed overhead, and Walt Whitman would've seen it at the same time, give or take one minute," said Olson.The study will be published in an upcoming edition of Sky and Telescope magazine. (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): A team of astronomers from Texas State University-San Marcos have applied its unique brand of forensic astronomy to reveal the secret behind famed poet Walt Whitman's description of a "strange huge meteor-procession" in his landmark collection Leaves of Grass.While scholars have debated the possible inspiration for decades, it is now that researchers have rediscovered one of the most famous celestial events of Whitman's day-one that inspired both Whitman and famed landscape painter Frederic Church -- yet became inexplicably forgotten by modern times."This is the 150th anniversary of the event that inspired both Whitman and Church. It was an Earth-grazing meteor procession," said Donald Olson, who conducted the study with Russell Doescher, English professor Marilynn S. Olson and Honours Program student Ava G. Pope.Whitman, known as a keen observer of the sky, included significant references to contemporary as well as cosmic events in his poem 'Year of Meteors. (1859-60.)' published in Leaves of Grass.A "great comet" in the poem that appeared unexpectedly in the northern sky is readily identified as the Great Comet of 1860, which follows the path Whitman described and was seen by most of the world.From Whitman's description, the Texas State research team immediately suspected the other celestial event he wrote about was the rare phenomenon known as an Earth-grazing meteor procession."Meteor processions are so rare most people have never heard of them. There was one in 1783 and a Canadian fireball procession in 1913. Those were all the meteor processions we knew of," said Olson.An Earth-grazing meteor is one where the trajectory takes the meteor through the Earth's atmosphere and back out into interplanetary space without ever striking the ground.A meteor procession occurs when a meteor breaks up upon entering the atmosphere, creating multiple meteors travelling in nearly identical paths.The rarity of meteor processions, however, has proven problematic to scholars. Whitman's description has alternately been ascribed to the 1833 Leonid meteor storm, the 1858 Leonids and a widely-observed fireball in 1859.Although Whitman is documented as having observed the 1833 Leonids, the Texas State researchers were able to discount that meteor storm because the timeframe conflicts with the poem's, and Whitman's descriptions of the two events are very different.The 1858 Leonids were also discounted after the research team discovered a dating error misattributing some of Whitman's observations of the 1833 Leonids to the latter year.On the other hand, the 1859 fireball was well documented and happened during the timeframe of the poem.However, the fireball was a single meteor, not a procession.Compounding the problem, the 1859 fireball was a daylight meteor, whereas Whitman describes the procession as happening at night.A chance clue from the 19th century artist Frederic Church proved key to unravelling the mystery.A decade ago, Olson saw a painting on the back cover of an exhibition catalog, which showed the scene Whitman had described.Church's painting, titled "The Meteor of 1860," clearly depicted a meteor procession.Other than that, the catalog also gave the date of Church's observance: July 20, 1860, well within the timeframe of Whitman's poem."We went to Church's house, and the people who know him and his art well, who've studied him, say, 'Oh, he wouldn't have painted it like that based on somebody's say-so. He must have seen it. The artist and his wife, who were honeymooning that summer, kept the painting in their bedroom for many years,'" said Olson."We went to a small research library and found old diaries of Theodore Cole, a friend of Church's, from July of 1860. They tell us Church was, in fact, in Catskill, New York, so he wasn't off in some far distant land," said Pope.Armed with this intriguing new date, the Texas State researchers found that a large Earth-grazing meteor broke apart on the evening of July 20, 1860, creating a spectacular procession of multiple fireballs visible from the Great Lakes to New York State as it burned through the atmosphere and continued out over the Atlantic Ocean."Any town that had a newspaper within all those states is going have a story on this. We have hundreds of eyewitness accounts, but there are probably hundreds more we don't even have," said Olson."From all the observations in towns up and down the Hudson River Valley, we're able to determine the meteor's appearance down to the hour and minute. Church observed it at 9:49 p.m. when the meteor passed overhead, and Walt Whitman would've seen it at the same time, give or take one minute," said Olson.The study will be published in an upcoming edition of Sky and Telescope magazine. (ANI)
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Novel technique detects enzyme implicated in cancer, atherosclerosis
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): A research team has developed an experiment that reliably detects and quantifies mature cathepsin K - an enzyme implicated in osteoporosis, arthritis, atherosclerosis and cancer metastasis.Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have detected cathepsin K using a technique called gelatin zymography."This assay is important because researchers and pharmaceutical companies need a dependable method for sensitively detecting a small amount of cathepsin K and quantifying its activity to develop inhibitors to the enzyme that can fight the diseases while minimizing side effects," said Manu Platt, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.Cathepsin K is required to maintain adequate calcium levels in the body, but it can be highly destructive because it has the ability to break down bone by degrading collagen and elastin.According to Platt, the major advantage of this protocol is the definitive knowledge that mature cathepsin K is being detected in cells and tissues - and not its immature form or one of the other 10 cathepsin varieties: B, H, L, S, C, O, F, V, X or W.Another advantage is the reduced cost but more sensitive. The new assay allows cathepsin K to be detected in quantities as small as a few femtomoles and does not require antibodies, which can be expensive and cannot be used across different species.In addition, zymography allowed the researchers to measure the activity of the enzyme, whereas Western blotting just measured its presence."Cathepsins are implicated in many different diseases and the value of this assay is that it enables the measurement of previously undeterminable cathepsin activity in normal and diseased cells and tissues," noted Platt."This research should provide new information on a number of existing pathophysiological conditions where cathepsin K activity had been previously undetectable," added Platt.The study was published in the June issue of the journal Analytical Biochemistry. (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): A research team has developed an experiment that reliably detects and quantifies mature cathepsin K - an enzyme implicated in osteoporosis, arthritis, atherosclerosis and cancer metastasis.Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have detected cathepsin K using a technique called gelatin zymography."This assay is important because researchers and pharmaceutical companies need a dependable method for sensitively detecting a small amount of cathepsin K and quantifying its activity to develop inhibitors to the enzyme that can fight the diseases while minimizing side effects," said Manu Platt, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.Cathepsin K is required to maintain adequate calcium levels in the body, but it can be highly destructive because it has the ability to break down bone by degrading collagen and elastin.According to Platt, the major advantage of this protocol is the definitive knowledge that mature cathepsin K is being detected in cells and tissues - and not its immature form or one of the other 10 cathepsin varieties: B, H, L, S, C, O, F, V, X or W.Another advantage is the reduced cost but more sensitive. The new assay allows cathepsin K to be detected in quantities as small as a few femtomoles and does not require antibodies, which can be expensive and cannot be used across different species.In addition, zymography allowed the researchers to measure the activity of the enzyme, whereas Western blotting just measured its presence."Cathepsins are implicated in many different diseases and the value of this assay is that it enables the measurement of previously undeterminable cathepsin activity in normal and diseased cells and tissues," noted Platt."This research should provide new information on a number of existing pathophysiological conditions where cathepsin K activity had been previously undetectable," added Platt.The study was published in the June issue of the journal Analytical Biochemistry. (ANI)
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Better and quicker decisions based on cognitive ability, not age
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): It's not age, it's cognition that makes the difference in decision-making.According to researchers at Duke University, age doesn't count in making risky decisions."It's not age, it's cognition that makes the difference in decision-making," said Scott Huettel, Ph.D., Associate Professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Duke Center for Neuroeconomic Studies.Huettel recently led a laboratory study in which participants could gain or lose money based on their decisions."Once we accounted for cognitive abilities like memory and processing speed, age had nothing to do with predicting whether an individual would make the best economic decisions on the tasks we assigned," Huettel said."The standard perspective is that age itself causes people to make more risky, lower-quality decisions - independent of the cognitive changes associated with age," he added, who is also with the Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center."But that isn't what we found."The study found that age-related effects were apparently linked to individual differences in processing speed and memory. When those variables were included in the analysis, age was no longer a significant predictor of decision quality.Many of the older subjects, aged 66 to 76, made similar decisions to many of the younger subjects (aged 18 to 35)."Decision scaffolding is the concept that you can give people structure for decision-making that helps them," Huettel said."We should try to identify ways in which to present information to older adults that gives them scaffolding to make the best choices. If we can reduce the demand on memory or the need to process information very quickly that would be a great benefit to older adults and may push them toward making the same economically beneficial decisions as younger adults."Self-recognition is important, too, so that if someone knows they process things well over time, they might ask for more time to make a decision rather than making an impulsive decision on the spot, he added.The study was published in the Psychology and Aging journal, published by the American Psychological Association. (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): It's not age, it's cognition that makes the difference in decision-making.According to researchers at Duke University, age doesn't count in making risky decisions."It's not age, it's cognition that makes the difference in decision-making," said Scott Huettel, Ph.D., Associate Professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Duke Center for Neuroeconomic Studies.Huettel recently led a laboratory study in which participants could gain or lose money based on their decisions."Once we accounted for cognitive abilities like memory and processing speed, age had nothing to do with predicting whether an individual would make the best economic decisions on the tasks we assigned," Huettel said."The standard perspective is that age itself causes people to make more risky, lower-quality decisions - independent of the cognitive changes associated with age," he added, who is also with the Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center."But that isn't what we found."The study found that age-related effects were apparently linked to individual differences in processing speed and memory. When those variables were included in the analysis, age was no longer a significant predictor of decision quality.Many of the older subjects, aged 66 to 76, made similar decisions to many of the younger subjects (aged 18 to 35)."Decision scaffolding is the concept that you can give people structure for decision-making that helps them," Huettel said."We should try to identify ways in which to present information to older adults that gives them scaffolding to make the best choices. If we can reduce the demand on memory or the need to process information very quickly that would be a great benefit to older adults and may push them toward making the same economically beneficial decisions as younger adults."Self-recognition is important, too, so that if someone knows they process things well over time, they might ask for more time to make a decision rather than making an impulsive decision on the spot, he added.The study was published in the Psychology and Aging journal, published by the American Psychological Association. (ANI)
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Copper nanowires could pave way for foldable iPad
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Researchers at Duke University have found a simple way to make tiny copper nanowires in quantity.The cheap conductors are small enough to be transparent, making them ideal for thin-film solar cells, flat-screen TVs and computers, and flexible displays."Imagine a foldable iPad," said Benjamin Wiley, an assistant professor of chemistry at Duke.Nanowires made of copper perform better than carbon nanotubes, and are much cheaper than silver nanowires, said Wiley.The latest flat-panel TVs and computer screens produce images by an array of electronic pixels connected by a transparent conductive layer made from indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO is also used as a transparent electrode in thin-film solar cells.But ITO has drawbacks: it is brittle, making it unsuitable for flexible screens; its production process is inefficient; and it is expensive and becoming more so because of increasing demand."If we are going to have these ubiquitous electronics and solar cells, we need to use materials that are abundant in the earth's crust and don't take much energy to extract," said Wiley.He points out that there are very few materials that are known to be both transparent and conductive, which is why ITO is still being used despite its drawbacks.However, in the new study, the researchers have shown that copper, which is a thousand times more abundant than indium, can be used to make a film of nanowires that is both transparent and conductive.Silver nanowires also perform well as a transparent conductor, and Wiley contributed to a patent on the production of them as a graduate student.But silver, like indium, is rare and expensive.Other researchers have been trying to improve the performance of carbon nanotubes as a transparent conductor, but without much luck."The fact that copper nanowires are cheaper and work better makes them a very promising material to solve this problem," said Wiley.Wiley and colleagues grew the copper nanowires in a water-based solution."By adding different chemicals to the solution, you can control the assembly of atoms into different nanostructures," said Wiley.In this case, when the copper crystallizes, it first forms tiny "seeds," and then a single nanowire sprouts from each seed.It's a mechanism of crystal growth that has never been observed before.Because the process is water-based, and because copper nanowires are flexible, Wiley thinks the nanowires could be coated from solution in a roll-to-roll process, like newspaper printing, which would be much more efficient than the ITO production process.Wiley's lab is also the first to demonstrate that copper nanowires perform well as a transparent conductor.The study was published in Advanced Materials. (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Researchers at Duke University have found a simple way to make tiny copper nanowires in quantity.The cheap conductors are small enough to be transparent, making them ideal for thin-film solar cells, flat-screen TVs and computers, and flexible displays."Imagine a foldable iPad," said Benjamin Wiley, an assistant professor of chemistry at Duke.Nanowires made of copper perform better than carbon nanotubes, and are much cheaper than silver nanowires, said Wiley.The latest flat-panel TVs and computer screens produce images by an array of electronic pixels connected by a transparent conductive layer made from indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO is also used as a transparent electrode in thin-film solar cells.But ITO has drawbacks: it is brittle, making it unsuitable for flexible screens; its production process is inefficient; and it is expensive and becoming more so because of increasing demand."If we are going to have these ubiquitous electronics and solar cells, we need to use materials that are abundant in the earth's crust and don't take much energy to extract," said Wiley.He points out that there are very few materials that are known to be both transparent and conductive, which is why ITO is still being used despite its drawbacks.However, in the new study, the researchers have shown that copper, which is a thousand times more abundant than indium, can be used to make a film of nanowires that is both transparent and conductive.Silver nanowires also perform well as a transparent conductor, and Wiley contributed to a patent on the production of them as a graduate student.But silver, like indium, is rare and expensive.Other researchers have been trying to improve the performance of carbon nanotubes as a transparent conductor, but without much luck."The fact that copper nanowires are cheaper and work better makes them a very promising material to solve this problem," said Wiley.Wiley and colleagues grew the copper nanowires in a water-based solution."By adding different chemicals to the solution, you can control the assembly of atoms into different nanostructures," said Wiley.In this case, when the copper crystallizes, it first forms tiny "seeds," and then a single nanowire sprouts from each seed.It's a mechanism of crystal growth that has never been observed before.Because the process is water-based, and because copper nanowires are flexible, Wiley thinks the nanowires could be coated from solution in a roll-to-roll process, like newspaper printing, which would be much more efficient than the ITO production process.Wiley's lab is also the first to demonstrate that copper nanowires perform well as a transparent conductor.The study was published in Advanced Materials. (ANI)
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Black holes that spin backwards might produce more ferocious jets of gas
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Backwards spinning black holes might make bigger jets of gas, suggests a new study.Theoretical astrophysicist David Garofalo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said: "A lot of what happens in an entire galaxy depends on what's going on in the miniscule central region where the black hole lies."Garofalo is the lead author of a new paper appearing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.Black holes are immense distortions of space and time with gravity that is so great, even light itself cannot escape.Astronomers have known for more than a decade that all galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are anchored by tremendous, so-called supermassive black holes, containing billions of Suns' worth of mass.The black holes are surrounded and nourished by disks of gas and dust, called accretion disks. Powerful jets stream out from below and above the disks like lasers, and fierce winds blow off from the disks themselves.The black holes can spin either in the same direction as the disks, called prograde black holes, or against the flow - the retrograde black holes.For decades, astronomers thought that the faster the spin of the black hole, the more powerful the jet. But there were problems with this "spin paradigm" model.For example, some prograde black holes had been found with no jets.Garofalo and his colleagues have been busy flipping the model on its head.In previous papers, they proposed that the backward, or retrograde, black holes spew the most powerful jets, while the prograde black holes have weaker or no jets.The new study links the researchers' theory with observations of galaxies across time, or at varying distances from Earth.They looked at both "radio-loud" galaxies with jets, and "radio- quiet" ones with weak or no jets.The term "radio" comes from the fact that these particular jets shoot out beams of light mostly in the form of radio waves.The results showed that more distant radio-loud galaxies are powered by retrograde black holes, while relatively closer radio-quiet objects have prograde black holes. According to the team, the supermassive black holes evolve over time from a retrograde to a prograde state.David Meier, a theoretical astrophysicist at JPL not involved in the study, said: "This new model also solves a paradox in the old spin paradigm."Everything now fits nicely into place."The scientists say that the backward black holes shoot more powerful jets because there's more space between the black hole and the inner edge of the orbiting disk.This gap provides more room for the build-up of magnetic fields, which fuel the jets, an idea known as the Reynolds conjecture after the theoretical astrophysicist Chris Reynolds of the University of Maryland, College Park.Garofalo said: "If you picture yourself trying to get closer to a fan, you can imagine that moving in the same rotational direction as the fan would make things easier."The same principle applies to these black holes. The material orbiting around them in a disk will get closer to the ones that are spinning in the same direction versus the ones spinning the opposite way."Jets and winds play key roles in shaping the fate of galaxies.Some research shows that jets can slow and even prevent the formation of stars not just in a host galaxy itself, but also in other nearby galaxies.Sambruna said: "Jets transport huge amounts of energy to the outskirts of galaxies, displace large volumes of the intergalactic gas, and act as feedback agents between the galaxy's very center and the large-scale environment."Understanding their origin is of paramount interest in modern astrophysics." (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Backwards spinning black holes might make bigger jets of gas, suggests a new study.Theoretical astrophysicist David Garofalo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said: "A lot of what happens in an entire galaxy depends on what's going on in the miniscule central region where the black hole lies."Garofalo is the lead author of a new paper appearing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.Black holes are immense distortions of space and time with gravity that is so great, even light itself cannot escape.Astronomers have known for more than a decade that all galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are anchored by tremendous, so-called supermassive black holes, containing billions of Suns' worth of mass.The black holes are surrounded and nourished by disks of gas and dust, called accretion disks. Powerful jets stream out from below and above the disks like lasers, and fierce winds blow off from the disks themselves.The black holes can spin either in the same direction as the disks, called prograde black holes, or against the flow - the retrograde black holes.For decades, astronomers thought that the faster the spin of the black hole, the more powerful the jet. But there were problems with this "spin paradigm" model.For example, some prograde black holes had been found with no jets.Garofalo and his colleagues have been busy flipping the model on its head.In previous papers, they proposed that the backward, or retrograde, black holes spew the most powerful jets, while the prograde black holes have weaker or no jets.The new study links the researchers' theory with observations of galaxies across time, or at varying distances from Earth.They looked at both "radio-loud" galaxies with jets, and "radio- quiet" ones with weak or no jets.The term "radio" comes from the fact that these particular jets shoot out beams of light mostly in the form of radio waves.The results showed that more distant radio-loud galaxies are powered by retrograde black holes, while relatively closer radio-quiet objects have prograde black holes. According to the team, the supermassive black holes evolve over time from a retrograde to a prograde state.David Meier, a theoretical astrophysicist at JPL not involved in the study, said: "This new model also solves a paradox in the old spin paradigm."Everything now fits nicely into place."The scientists say that the backward black holes shoot more powerful jets because there's more space between the black hole and the inner edge of the orbiting disk.This gap provides more room for the build-up of magnetic fields, which fuel the jets, an idea known as the Reynolds conjecture after the theoretical astrophysicist Chris Reynolds of the University of Maryland, College Park.Garofalo said: "If you picture yourself trying to get closer to a fan, you can imagine that moving in the same rotational direction as the fan would make things easier."The same principle applies to these black holes. The material orbiting around them in a disk will get closer to the ones that are spinning in the same direction versus the ones spinning the opposite way."Jets and winds play key roles in shaping the fate of galaxies.Some research shows that jets can slow and even prevent the formation of stars not just in a host galaxy itself, but also in other nearby galaxies.Sambruna said: "Jets transport huge amounts of energy to the outskirts of galaxies, displace large volumes of the intergalactic gas, and act as feedback agents between the galaxy's very center and the large-scale environment."Understanding their origin is of paramount interest in modern astrophysics." (ANI)
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Only one-third of young US girls receive HPV vaccine for cervical cancer
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Only one in three young girls receives the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, a new American study reveals.The study, conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has appeared in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.The HPV vaccine prevents four strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, two of which are found in about 70 percent of all women with cervical cancer.Both the American Cancer Society and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommend that women and girls receive the vaccine, but the new data shows that only 34 percent of girls aged 13 to 17 were vaccinated in the six states surveyed.First author Sandi L. Pruitt said: "The good news is that the vaccination rate is increasing."The bad news is this is just the first dose of a three-dose vaccine."Pruitt, a postdoctoral research associate in Washington University's Division of Health Behavior Research, tracked rates of HPV vaccination in Delaware, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.She and senior investigator Mario Schootman analysed data from 1,709 girls in 274 counties of the six states in this study.The information came from a national telephone survey called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).Pruitt said: "This was the first year the survey asked about HPV vaccination."That portion of the survey was optional, and only six states opted to use it. Ideally, we'd like to know what's happening in more states, but these six states represent a good cross-section of urban and rural, rich and poor, and they do include girls from racial and ethnic groups that closely mirror the rest of the country."Pruitt continued: "For the neediest children, the United States has a publicly funded vaccination system, but each state sets its own guidelines for who is eligible to receive free vaccines."Individual states set different guidelines for providing vaccines to those with no insurance versus those who may be underinsured. So girls from poorer counties may be more likely to qualify for a free vaccine, whereas those states with more poverty may not have adequate funding to provide it or may be less likely to fill in gaps for those who may not have enough private insurance coverage to pay for it."She added: "We didn't find a racial disparity in terms of vaccination."That's very important because the highest burden of cervical cancer is among women of colour, especially Hispanic women and those who live along the U.S.-Mexico border. There's a huge epidemic of cervical cancer among those women, so the fact that we didn't find racial and ethnic disparities is a good thing." (ANI)
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Washington, June 2 (ANI): Only one in three young girls receives the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, a new American study reveals.The study, conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has appeared in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.The HPV vaccine prevents four strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, two of which are found in about 70 percent of all women with cervical cancer.Both the American Cancer Society and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommend that women and girls receive the vaccine, but the new data shows that only 34 percent of girls aged 13 to 17 were vaccinated in the six states surveyed.First author Sandi L. Pruitt said: "The good news is that the vaccination rate is increasing."The bad news is this is just the first dose of a three-dose vaccine."Pruitt, a postdoctoral research associate in Washington University's Division of Health Behavior Research, tracked rates of HPV vaccination in Delaware, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.She and senior investigator Mario Schootman analysed data from 1,709 girls in 274 counties of the six states in this study.The information came from a national telephone survey called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).Pruitt said: "This was the first year the survey asked about HPV vaccination."That portion of the survey was optional, and only six states opted to use it. Ideally, we'd like to know what's happening in more states, but these six states represent a good cross-section of urban and rural, rich and poor, and they do include girls from racial and ethnic groups that closely mirror the rest of the country."Pruitt continued: "For the neediest children, the United States has a publicly funded vaccination system, but each state sets its own guidelines for who is eligible to receive free vaccines."Individual states set different guidelines for providing vaccines to those with no insurance versus those who may be underinsured. So girls from poorer counties may be more likely to qualify for a free vaccine, whereas those states with more poverty may not have adequate funding to provide it or may be less likely to fill in gaps for those who may not have enough private insurance coverage to pay for it."She added: "We didn't find a racial disparity in terms of vaccination."That's very important because the highest burden of cervical cancer is among women of colour, especially Hispanic women and those who live along the U.S.-Mexico border. There's a huge epidemic of cervical cancer among those women, so the fact that we didn't find racial and ethnic disparities is a good thing." (ANI)
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Rocket scientist heads ISRO liquid propulsion systems centre
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Bangalore, June 2 (IANS) Noted rocket scientist S. Ramakrishnan is the new director of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) liquid propulsion systems centre at Thiruvananthapuram.The space agency Wednesday said Ramakrishnan, as director of projects at its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram earlier, had played a key role in the development of polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) and its liquid propulsion stages.'Under Ramakrishnan's leadership as project director, the PSLV continuation programme (PSLC-C1 to C4), their operationalisation and enhancing of payload capability to 1,500 kg from 900 kg were accomplished,' ISRO said in a statement here.A product of IIT Chennai, Ramakrishnan also steered the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV Mark-III) during its crucial design phase, engineering and realisation of its hardware for development test.'Ramakrishnan also played a lead role in the formulation of the Indian Human Spaceflight Project (HSP) and completion of system concept reviews,' the statement added.He was conferred Padmashree by the government in 2003.
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Bangalore, June 2 (IANS) Noted rocket scientist S. Ramakrishnan is the new director of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) liquid propulsion systems centre at Thiruvananthapuram.The space agency Wednesday said Ramakrishnan, as director of projects at its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram earlier, had played a key role in the development of polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) and its liquid propulsion stages.'Under Ramakrishnan's leadership as project director, the PSLV continuation programme (PSLC-C1 to C4), their operationalisation and enhancing of payload capability to 1,500 kg from 900 kg were accomplished,' ISRO said in a statement here.A product of IIT Chennai, Ramakrishnan also steered the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV Mark-III) during its crucial design phase, engineering and realisation of its hardware for development test.'Ramakrishnan also played a lead role in the formulation of the Indian Human Spaceflight Project (HSP) and completion of system concept reviews,' the statement added.He was conferred Padmashree by the government in 2003.
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BP robots hit snag while sawing pipe
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BP Plc has hit a snag in its attempt to saw through a riser pipe in a risky operation to funnel leaking oil from a blown-out well to the surface, the top U.S. official overseeing the effort said on Wednesday.BP's undersea robots in the Gulf of Mexico succeeded in making a shear cut to the pipe, but the robot's diamond-tipped saw blade became stuck inside the pipe while attempting a second cut, said Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, speaking to reporters in Schriever, Louisiana."They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free," Allen said. "The goal is later on today to finish that cut, and to be able to put a containment device over the top of the wellhead."The operation is BP's latest attempt to contain the leak, estimated by U.S. scientists to be up to 19,000 barrels (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day. BP's "top kill" attempt to plug the well failed on Saturday, and the London-based energy giant is also drilling two relief wells that won't be completed until August.Late Tuesday, underwater robots used massive shears to slice a pipe, known as a riser, at the top of a lower marine riser package, or LMRP.If the saw is freed and finishes the job, BP aims to place a containment cap with a rubber seal over the gushing opening to funnel most of the oil. A pipe attached to the top of the cap would transport captured oil and gas to a drillship on the water's surface, a mile (1.6 km) up.An underwater camera feed showed huge clamps trying to jiggle the riser and free the saw.BP must make two cuts to the riser pipe, with the second key to ensuring that BP gets a clean seal between the pipe and the containment dome."The cleaner the cut, the tighter the seal we can make on it," Allen said, enabling BP to capture more oil and funnel it to the surface. A jagged surface could foil the seal and allow more oil to escape, he said.In that instance, BP can use a larger box-shaped containment dome already at the seabed known as a "top hat." BP spokesman Robert Wine told Reuters that other containment domes of various sizes and different types of seals are being constructed -- or shipped to the site if already built -- as backups."We've got various designs of cap to put down depending on how clean the cut is," Wine said. "There are various options to get the best fit and capture."Allen said if the saw can't be freed, BP may have to deploy a second saw to finish the job. "They're looking at that as we speak," he said mid-morning.Allen said BP is spraying dispersants at the leak site to try to break up the oil leaking.Allen said U.S. officials don't anticipate the leak's flow to increase until the second cut is finished. (Additional reporting by Chris Baltimore, editing by Philip Barbara)
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BP Plc has hit a snag in its attempt to saw through a riser pipe in a risky operation to funnel leaking oil from a blown-out well to the surface, the top U.S. official overseeing the effort said on Wednesday.BP's undersea robots in the Gulf of Mexico succeeded in making a shear cut to the pipe, but the robot's diamond-tipped saw blade became stuck inside the pipe while attempting a second cut, said Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, speaking to reporters in Schriever, Louisiana."They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free," Allen said. "The goal is later on today to finish that cut, and to be able to put a containment device over the top of the wellhead."The operation is BP's latest attempt to contain the leak, estimated by U.S. scientists to be up to 19,000 barrels (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day. BP's "top kill" attempt to plug the well failed on Saturday, and the London-based energy giant is also drilling two relief wells that won't be completed until August.Late Tuesday, underwater robots used massive shears to slice a pipe, known as a riser, at the top of a lower marine riser package, or LMRP.If the saw is freed and finishes the job, BP aims to place a containment cap with a rubber seal over the gushing opening to funnel most of the oil. A pipe attached to the top of the cap would transport captured oil and gas to a drillship on the water's surface, a mile (1.6 km) up.An underwater camera feed showed huge clamps trying to jiggle the riser and free the saw.BP must make two cuts to the riser pipe, with the second key to ensuring that BP gets a clean seal between the pipe and the containment dome."The cleaner the cut, the tighter the seal we can make on it," Allen said, enabling BP to capture more oil and funnel it to the surface. A jagged surface could foil the seal and allow more oil to escape, he said.In that instance, BP can use a larger box-shaped containment dome already at the seabed known as a "top hat." BP spokesman Robert Wine told Reuters that other containment domes of various sizes and different types of seals are being constructed -- or shipped to the site if already built -- as backups."We've got various designs of cap to put down depending on how clean the cut is," Wine said. "There are various options to get the best fit and capture."Allen said if the saw can't be freed, BP may have to deploy a second saw to finish the job. "They're looking at that as we speak," he said mid-morning.Allen said BP is spraying dispersants at the leak site to try to break up the oil leaking.Allen said U.S. officials don't anticipate the leak's flow to increase until the second cut is finished. (Additional reporting by Chris Baltimore, editing by Philip Barbara)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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BP tries again to curb oil spill, shares stabilize
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BP Plc hit a snag in its latest effort to curb the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the British energy giant's shares stabilized on Wednesday and parts of the huge oil slick reached neighboring states.The company's latest plan is to siphon off some of the oil by first using robot submarines to cut away what is left of the ruined offshore well's leaking riser pipe, then lower a containment dome over the remaining wellhead assembly. BP will then funnel crude to the surface.But the diamond saw being used to cut through the pipe became stuck, and BP is employing robots on the seabed to free it, a difficult task one mile (1.6 km) deep."They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free. .... The goal is later on today to finish that cut, and to be able to put a containment device over the top of the wellhead and stop containing the oil," Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, chief of the U.S. disaster response, told reporters.BP's latest plan to curb the oil flow after the "top kill" strategy failed could represent the last best hope before August, when the company hopes to have two relief wells drilled and functioning.This latest attempted fix may actually increases the flow of oil at least temporarily before the leak can be contained.INSIDER TV: http://link.reuters.com/wuw64kGraphic: http://link.reuters.com/wyf57kPresident Barack Obama, facing one of the biggest challenges to his presidency, is under relentless pressure to stop the leak.BP, now facing an Obama administration criminal investigation, has lost two-thirds of its market value since the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 and triggered the mile-deep gusher.BP shares were down less than 2 percent in European trading on Wednesday, after plunging 13.1 percent the previous session. The company has lost more than a third of its market value, or about $67 billion (46 billion pounds), since the crisis began.The cost of insuring the debt of BP, rig operator Transocean and Anadarko Petroleum Corp hit fresh highs on Wednesday as concerns grew about the companies' exposure to the spill.Tar balls and other oil debris from the giant, fragmented slick reached Alabama's Dauphin Island, parts of Mississippi and were less than 10 miles (16 km) from Florida's northwest Panhandle coast. The region's vital seafood and tourism industries were at risk.A section of Dauphin Island beach well known for its white sand was covered with patches of black and an orange sheen. Hundreds of workers and around 150 boats set out to lay more protective boom around the island, though they were delayed by a squall that passed over the tourist haven off Alabama's Gulf coast."It is so depressing. It is really happening. It really won't go away. And the American people really don't know what has hit them," said Dauphin island homeowner Caroline Graves.LAST BEST HOPEThe containment dome, designed with a gasket on the bottom to fit snugly over the leak and seal out seawater, is intended to capture a large portion of the billowing oil and channel it through a hose to a ship on the surface.BP must make two cuts on the riser pipe, with the second key to ensuring that BP gets a clean seal between the pipe and the containment dome."The cleaner the cut, the tighter the seal we can make on it," Allen said, enabling BP to capture more oil and funnel it to the surface.The cap also is equipped with valves to allow operators to inject methanol or warm water that would prevent the buildup of slushy gas hydrates that thwarted an earlier siphoning effort.But sawing off the end of the damaged riser pipe through which oil has been pouring nonstop could increase the flow of crude by 20 percent until the containment dome is lowered into place.Allen said it could take 72 hours to get the containment cap operational.As much as 19,000 barrels of oil (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day has been pouring into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana since the April 20 explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and killed 11 crewmen.The accident ranks as the worst oil spill in U.S. history, surpassing the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska.The spreading slick coincided with the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season and predictions that this summer could be the stormiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast.Commercial fishing, shrimping and oyster harvests have been shut down for weeks along much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to a $6.5 billion seafood industry.While cleanup crews have attacked the oil slick on the surface with skimmers, dispersants and controlled burns, shoreline-protection teams have scurried to block the spread of oil with containment booms, sandbags and other barriers.Scientists and Gulf residents are most concerned about the encroachment of oil into bayous and marshes teeming with shrimp, oysters, crabs, fish, birds and other wildlife.BP will seek to patch up its battered share price by reassuring investors the cost of cleaning up the spill is manageable and will not affect dividends, British media reported on Wednesday."If our current efforts were to fail and we have to wait for the relief wells to be drilled and had six months of clean-up, we estimate the cost at $3 billion," BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward told the Daily Mail.(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays and Chris Baltimore in Houston, Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Verna Gates on Dauphin Island, and Joanne Frearson in London; writing by Steve Holland; editing by Philip Barbara)
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BP Plc hit a snag in its latest effort to curb the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the British energy giant's shares stabilized on Wednesday and parts of the huge oil slick reached neighboring states.The company's latest plan is to siphon off some of the oil by first using robot submarines to cut away what is left of the ruined offshore well's leaking riser pipe, then lower a containment dome over the remaining wellhead assembly. BP will then funnel crude to the surface.But the diamond saw being used to cut through the pipe became stuck, and BP is employing robots on the seabed to free it, a difficult task one mile (1.6 km) deep."They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free. .... The goal is later on today to finish that cut, and to be able to put a containment device over the top of the wellhead and stop containing the oil," Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, chief of the U.S. disaster response, told reporters.BP's latest plan to curb the oil flow after the "top kill" strategy failed could represent the last best hope before August, when the company hopes to have two relief wells drilled and functioning.This latest attempted fix may actually increases the flow of oil at least temporarily before the leak can be contained.INSIDER TV: http://link.reuters.com/wuw64kGraphic: http://link.reuters.com/wyf57kPresident Barack Obama, facing one of the biggest challenges to his presidency, is under relentless pressure to stop the leak.BP, now facing an Obama administration criminal investigation, has lost two-thirds of its market value since the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 and triggered the mile-deep gusher.BP shares were down less than 2 percent in European trading on Wednesday, after plunging 13.1 percent the previous session. The company has lost more than a third of its market value, or about $67 billion (46 billion pounds), since the crisis began.The cost of insuring the debt of BP, rig operator Transocean and Anadarko Petroleum Corp hit fresh highs on Wednesday as concerns grew about the companies' exposure to the spill.Tar balls and other oil debris from the giant, fragmented slick reached Alabama's Dauphin Island, parts of Mississippi and were less than 10 miles (16 km) from Florida's northwest Panhandle coast. The region's vital seafood and tourism industries were at risk.A section of Dauphin Island beach well known for its white sand was covered with patches of black and an orange sheen. Hundreds of workers and around 150 boats set out to lay more protective boom around the island, though they were delayed by a squall that passed over the tourist haven off Alabama's Gulf coast."It is so depressing. It is really happening. It really won't go away. And the American people really don't know what has hit them," said Dauphin island homeowner Caroline Graves.LAST BEST HOPEThe containment dome, designed with a gasket on the bottom to fit snugly over the leak and seal out seawater, is intended to capture a large portion of the billowing oil and channel it through a hose to a ship on the surface.BP must make two cuts on the riser pipe, with the second key to ensuring that BP gets a clean seal between the pipe and the containment dome."The cleaner the cut, the tighter the seal we can make on it," Allen said, enabling BP to capture more oil and funnel it to the surface.The cap also is equipped with valves to allow operators to inject methanol or warm water that would prevent the buildup of slushy gas hydrates that thwarted an earlier siphoning effort.But sawing off the end of the damaged riser pipe through which oil has been pouring nonstop could increase the flow of crude by 20 percent until the containment dome is lowered into place.Allen said it could take 72 hours to get the containment cap operational.As much as 19,000 barrels of oil (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day has been pouring into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana since the April 20 explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and killed 11 crewmen.The accident ranks as the worst oil spill in U.S. history, surpassing the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska.The spreading slick coincided with the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season and predictions that this summer could be the stormiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast.Commercial fishing, shrimping and oyster harvests have been shut down for weeks along much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to a $6.5 billion seafood industry.While cleanup crews have attacked the oil slick on the surface with skimmers, dispersants and controlled burns, shoreline-protection teams have scurried to block the spread of oil with containment booms, sandbags and other barriers.Scientists and Gulf residents are most concerned about the encroachment of oil into bayous and marshes teeming with shrimp, oysters, crabs, fish, birds and other wildlife.BP will seek to patch up its battered share price by reassuring investors the cost of cleaning up the spill is manageable and will not affect dividends, British media reported on Wednesday."If our current efforts were to fail and we have to wait for the relief wells to be drilled and had six months of clean-up, we estimate the cost at $3 billion," BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward told the Daily Mail.(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays and Chris Baltimore in Houston, Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Verna Gates on Dauphin Island, and Joanne Frearson in London; writing by Steve Holland; editing by Philip Barbara)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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India for high tech trade with US, says nuclear deal on track
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Washington, June 2 (IANS) India has pitched for a robust partnership with two way trade in advanced technology products as it assured US of its commitment to a nuclear liability regime and an unblemished record of safeguarding imported technology'The government is committed to put in place a nuclear liability regime. We look forward to US companies investing in India,' External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said Wednesday outlining his vision of an India-US relationship transformed by the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal.Assuring the gathered business leaders at the 35th anniversary meeting of the US India Business Council (USIBC) representing some 300 top American firms investing in India, he said the implementation of the historic civil nuclear signed in 2008 was well within the agreed time line.'We would like it to be as robust a partnership as we have both envisioned, said Krishna who leads the first India-US strategic dialogue at the ministerial level Thursday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.He was 'confident that our economic partnership holds immense potential for the prosperity of our two countries and for invigorating the strategic partnership between our two countries.'Thursday's dialogue, Krishna said, would focus on a broad range of shared interests 'from countering terrorism and extremism, advancing nuclear security, working to secure the global commons, and succeeding in Afghanistan to dialogues for co-operation in science and technology, research for clean energy and monsoon prediction, health and education and even a dialogue on women's empowerment'.'That will be an important occasion for us to reflect on the remarkable journey that our two great democracies have embarked upon, and to set our sights on new milestones.'Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake said the US was very much 'encouraged' with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent statement in which he made a strong pitch for the passage of the nuclear liability bill.'The US is very much encouraged with the reaction (of Manmohan Singh). We trust the prime minister,' he told reporters.'How it is managed is something which we cannot decide. We respect the judgement of the prime minister.'Ahead of the Krishna-Clinton talks, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns are holding a foreign policy dialogue at the State Department which, the officials said, would set the tone for Thursday's dialogue.The high-powered Indian delegation includes Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan.(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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Washington, June 2 (IANS) India has pitched for a robust partnership with two way trade in advanced technology products as it assured US of its commitment to a nuclear liability regime and an unblemished record of safeguarding imported technology'The government is committed to put in place a nuclear liability regime. We look forward to US companies investing in India,' External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said Wednesday outlining his vision of an India-US relationship transformed by the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal.Assuring the gathered business leaders at the 35th anniversary meeting of the US India Business Council (USIBC) representing some 300 top American firms investing in India, he said the implementation of the historic civil nuclear signed in 2008 was well within the agreed time line.'We would like it to be as robust a partnership as we have both envisioned, said Krishna who leads the first India-US strategic dialogue at the ministerial level Thursday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.He was 'confident that our economic partnership holds immense potential for the prosperity of our two countries and for invigorating the strategic partnership between our two countries.'Thursday's dialogue, Krishna said, would focus on a broad range of shared interests 'from countering terrorism and extremism, advancing nuclear security, working to secure the global commons, and succeeding in Afghanistan to dialogues for co-operation in science and technology, research for clean energy and monsoon prediction, health and education and even a dialogue on women's empowerment'.'That will be an important occasion for us to reflect on the remarkable journey that our two great democracies have embarked upon, and to set our sights on new milestones.'Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake said the US was very much 'encouraged' with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent statement in which he made a strong pitch for the passage of the nuclear liability bill.'The US is very much encouraged with the reaction (of Manmohan Singh). We trust the prime minister,' he told reporters.'How it is managed is something which we cannot decide. We respect the judgement of the prime minister.'Ahead of the Krishna-Clinton talks, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns are holding a foreign policy dialogue at the State Department which, the officials said, would set the tone for Thursday's dialogue.The high-powered Indian delegation includes Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan.(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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Snag slows BP bid to curb spill as shares stabilize
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BP Plc hit a snag in its latest effort to curb the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the British energy giant's shares stabilized on Wednesday and parts of the huge oil slick threatened Florida.The company's latest plan is to siphon off some of the oil but first robot submarines must cut away what is left of the ruined offshore well's leaking riser pipe. Then a containment cap can be lowered over the remaining wellhead assembly, enabling BP to funnel crude to the surface.But the diamond-tipped saw being used to cut through the pipe became stuck, and BP is employing robots on the seabed to free it, a difficult task one mile (1.6 km) deep."They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free. .... The goal is later on today to finish that cut, and to be able to put a containment device over the top of the wellhead and start containing the oil," Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, chief of the U.S. disaster response, told reporters.Tar balls and other oil debris from the giant, fragmented slick reached Alabama's Dauphin Island, parts of Mississippi and were less than 10 miles (16 km) from Florida's northwest Panhandle coast. The region's vital seafood and tourism industries were at risk from America's biggest oil spill ever.Florida, entering the busy beach season, is ramping up reconnaissance efforts and preparing to deploy more booms and conduct coastal cleanups. Officials prepared for landfall as early as Friday.BP's latest plan to curb the oil flow after the "top kill" strategy failed could represent the last best hope before August, when the company hopes to have two relief wells drilled and functioning.This latest attempted fix may actually increases the flow of oil at least temporarily before the leak can be contained.INSIDER TV: http://link.reuters.com/wuw64kGraphic: http://link.reuters.com/wyf57kPresident Barack Obama, facing one of the biggest challenges to his presidency, is under relentless pressure to stop the leak.In a speech in Pittsburgh, he planned to say it is time for the United States to embrace a clean energy future because of the inherent risks of drilling deep into the earth for oil."The catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf right now may prove to be a result of human error -- or corporations taking dangerous short-cuts that compromised safety," he will say, according to White House excerpts.BP, now facing an Obama administration criminal investigation, has lost one-third of its market value or about $67 billion (46 billion pounds) since the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 and triggered the mile-deep gusher.BP shares recovered from an earlier dip to close nearly unchanged in European trading on Wednesday, while BP American depositary receipts rose modestly in New York; both equities plunged over 10 percent on Tuesday.The cost of insuring the debt of BP, rig operator Transocean and Anadarko Petroleum Corp hit fresh highs on Wednesday as concerns grew about the companies' exposure to the spill.BP will seek to patch up its battered share price by reassuring investors the cost of cleaning up the spill is manageable and will not affect dividends, British media reported on Wednesday.BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the Financial Times that he believed the industry could reform itself to justify continued drilling in challenging areas.A section of Dauphin Island beach well known for its white sand was covered with patches of black and an orange sheen. Hundreds of workers and around 150 boats set out to lay more protective booms around the island, though they were delayed by a squall that passed over the tourist haven off Alabama's Gulf coast."It is so depressing. It is really happening. It really won't go away. And the American people really don't know what has hit them," said Dauphin island homeowner Caroline Graves.LAST BEST HOPEThe containment cap, designed with a gasket on the bottom to fit snugly over the leak and seal out seawater, is intended to capture a large portion of the billowing oil and channel it through a hose to a ship on the surface.BP must make two cuts on the riser pipe, with the second key to ensuring that BP gets a clean seal between the pipe and the containment dome."The cleaner the cut, the tighter the seal we can make on it," Allen said.The cap also is equipped with valves to allow operators to inject methanol or warm water that would prevent the buildup of slushy gas hydrates that thwarted an earlier siphoning effort.But sawing off the end of the damaged riser pipe through which oil has been pouring nonstop could increase the flow of crude by 20 percent until the cap is in place.Allen said it could take 72 hours to get the cap operational.As much as 19,000 barrels of oil (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day has been pouring into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana since the April 20 explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and killed 11 crewmen.The accident ranks as the worst oil spill in U.S. history, surpassing the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska.The spreading slick coincided with the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, and predictions that this summer could be the stormiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast.Commercial fishing, shrimping and oyster harvests have been shut down for weeks along much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to a $6.5 billion seafood industry.While cleanup crews have attacked the oil slick on the surface with skimmers, dispersants and controlled burns, shoreline-protection teams have scurried to block the spread of oil with containment booms, sandbags and other barriers.Scientists and Gulf residents are most concerned about the encroachment of oil into bayous and marshes teeming with shrimp, oysters, crabs, fish, birds and other wildlife.(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays and Chris Baltimore in Houston, Michael Peltier in Tallahassee, Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Verna Gates on Dauphin Island, and Joanne Frearson in London; writing by Steve Holland; editing by Philip Barbara)
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BP Plc hit a snag in its latest effort to curb the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the British energy giant's shares stabilized on Wednesday and parts of the huge oil slick threatened Florida.The company's latest plan is to siphon off some of the oil but first robot submarines must cut away what is left of the ruined offshore well's leaking riser pipe. Then a containment cap can be lowered over the remaining wellhead assembly, enabling BP to funnel crude to the surface.But the diamond-tipped saw being used to cut through the pipe became stuck, and BP is employing robots on the seabed to free it, a difficult task one mile (1.6 km) deep."They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free. .... The goal is later on today to finish that cut, and to be able to put a containment device over the top of the wellhead and start containing the oil," Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, chief of the U.S. disaster response, told reporters.Tar balls and other oil debris from the giant, fragmented slick reached Alabama's Dauphin Island, parts of Mississippi and were less than 10 miles (16 km) from Florida's northwest Panhandle coast. The region's vital seafood and tourism industries were at risk from America's biggest oil spill ever.Florida, entering the busy beach season, is ramping up reconnaissance efforts and preparing to deploy more booms and conduct coastal cleanups. Officials prepared for landfall as early as Friday.BP's latest plan to curb the oil flow after the "top kill" strategy failed could represent the last best hope before August, when the company hopes to have two relief wells drilled and functioning.This latest attempted fix may actually increases the flow of oil at least temporarily before the leak can be contained.INSIDER TV: http://link.reuters.com/wuw64kGraphic: http://link.reuters.com/wyf57kPresident Barack Obama, facing one of the biggest challenges to his presidency, is under relentless pressure to stop the leak.In a speech in Pittsburgh, he planned to say it is time for the United States to embrace a clean energy future because of the inherent risks of drilling deep into the earth for oil."The catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf right now may prove to be a result of human error -- or corporations taking dangerous short-cuts that compromised safety," he will say, according to White House excerpts.BP, now facing an Obama administration criminal investigation, has lost one-third of its market value or about $67 billion (46 billion pounds) since the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 and triggered the mile-deep gusher.BP shares recovered from an earlier dip to close nearly unchanged in European trading on Wednesday, while BP American depositary receipts rose modestly in New York; both equities plunged over 10 percent on Tuesday.The cost of insuring the debt of BP, rig operator Transocean and Anadarko Petroleum Corp hit fresh highs on Wednesday as concerns grew about the companies' exposure to the spill.BP will seek to patch up its battered share price by reassuring investors the cost of cleaning up the spill is manageable and will not affect dividends, British media reported on Wednesday.BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the Financial Times that he believed the industry could reform itself to justify continued drilling in challenging areas.A section of Dauphin Island beach well known for its white sand was covered with patches of black and an orange sheen. Hundreds of workers and around 150 boats set out to lay more protective booms around the island, though they were delayed by a squall that passed over the tourist haven off Alabama's Gulf coast."It is so depressing. It is really happening. It really won't go away. And the American people really don't know what has hit them," said Dauphin island homeowner Caroline Graves.LAST BEST HOPEThe containment cap, designed with a gasket on the bottom to fit snugly over the leak and seal out seawater, is intended to capture a large portion of the billowing oil and channel it through a hose to a ship on the surface.BP must make two cuts on the riser pipe, with the second key to ensuring that BP gets a clean seal between the pipe and the containment dome."The cleaner the cut, the tighter the seal we can make on it," Allen said.The cap also is equipped with valves to allow operators to inject methanol or warm water that would prevent the buildup of slushy gas hydrates that thwarted an earlier siphoning effort.But sawing off the end of the damaged riser pipe through which oil has been pouring nonstop could increase the flow of crude by 20 percent until the cap is in place.Allen said it could take 72 hours to get the cap operational.As much as 19,000 barrels of oil (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day has been pouring into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana since the April 20 explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and killed 11 crewmen.The accident ranks as the worst oil spill in U.S. history, surpassing the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska.The spreading slick coincided with the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, and predictions that this summer could be the stormiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast.Commercial fishing, shrimping and oyster harvests have been shut down for weeks along much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to a $6.5 billion seafood industry.While cleanup crews have attacked the oil slick on the surface with skimmers, dispersants and controlled burns, shoreline-protection teams have scurried to block the spread of oil with containment booms, sandbags and other barriers.Scientists and Gulf residents are most concerned about the encroachment of oil into bayous and marshes teeming with shrimp, oysters, crabs, fish, birds and other wildlife.(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays and Chris Baltimore in Houston, Michael Peltier in Tallahassee, Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Verna Gates on Dauphin Island, and Joanne Frearson in London; writing by Steve Holland; editing by Philip Barbara)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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U.S. offers jobs grant to Florida space workers
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The U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday announced a $15 million emergency grant to help space shuttle workers start new careers in Florida, a politically important swing state with a high jobless rate.The shuttle program is scheduled to end after two more launches from the Kennedy Space Center this year and about 8,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs.The first shuttle flew in 1981. Flights have been used to launch satellites, space probes and the Hubble Space Telescope and, since 1998, to carry astronauts and big components to the International Space Station."We know we have a tremendous challenge here," Labor secretary Hilda Solis said during a visit to the space center.The Labor Department grant is in addition to a pending $40 million request by President Barack Obama to help displaced shuttle workers in Florida, a state already struggling with an unemployment rate above the national average.Florida's seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 12 percent in April, compared with 9.9 percent nationwide, and Obama's decision to scrap a follow-up program to the shuttles has been unpopular in the state.The high U.S. jobless rate is expected to affect elections in November that could cost Obama control of Congress.The Labor Department grant is intended to provide counseling and training for about 3,200 people employed under shuttle contracts held by United Space Alliance, which is a joint venture of the Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, and other firms.Under a proposal from the Obama administration, the Kennedy Space Center would still be in charge of a five-year, $5.8 billion effort to help private companies develop space transportation services. It was unclear how many new jobs that might create, though some estimates put it at about 2,500. (Editing by Jane Sutton and David Storey)
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The U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday announced a $15 million emergency grant to help space shuttle workers start new careers in Florida, a politically important swing state with a high jobless rate.The shuttle program is scheduled to end after two more launches from the Kennedy Space Center this year and about 8,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs.The first shuttle flew in 1981. Flights have been used to launch satellites, space probes and the Hubble Space Telescope and, since 1998, to carry astronauts and big components to the International Space Station."We know we have a tremendous challenge here," Labor secretary Hilda Solis said during a visit to the space center.The Labor Department grant is in addition to a pending $40 million request by President Barack Obama to help displaced shuttle workers in Florida, a state already struggling with an unemployment rate above the national average.Florida's seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 12 percent in April, compared with 9.9 percent nationwide, and Obama's decision to scrap a follow-up program to the shuttles has been unpopular in the state.The high U.S. jobless rate is expected to affect elections in November that could cost Obama control of Congress.The Labor Department grant is intended to provide counseling and training for about 3,200 people employed under shuttle contracts held by United Space Alliance, which is a joint venture of the Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, and other firms.Under a proposal from the Obama administration, the Kennedy Space Center would still be in charge of a five-year, $5.8 billion effort to help private companies develop space transportation services. It was unclear how many new jobs that might create, though some estimates put it at about 2,500. (Editing by Jane Sutton and David Storey)
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BP CEO apologizes for `thoughtless` oil spill comment
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BP CEO Tony Hayward, on the front lines of his company's battle to contain the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, apologized on Wednesday for saying he wants "my life back."Hayward, who has been thrust into a media spotlight since an April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history, said in a statement he was appalled when he read his comment.The BP chief had remarked "I want my life back," to several news organizations, including Reuters, in recent days."I made a hurtful and thoughtless comment," Hayward said in a statement. "I apologize, especially to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident. Those words don't represent how I feel about this tragedy.""My first priority is doing all we can to restore the lives of the people of the Gulf region and their families - to restore their lives, not mine," he added.Hayward's "life back" gaffe was not the first by the plain- speaking and press-shy geologist at the helm of the oil giant.On May 18, he told Britain's Sky News: "I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest."Hayward and BP executives have been challenged with the comment -- made before oil hit the Gulf shore -- regularly since in television interviews in the United States, where the spill is dominating the national news.As much as 19,000 barrels of oil (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day has been pouring into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana, threatening fisheries, wildlife and beaches along a coastline that stretches to Florida.In an interview with the Guardian newspaper published on May 14, Hayward said: "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.""That remark was typical of the technically accurate comments Hayward makes, which -- particularly when abbreviated -- have have led critics to charge that BP is trying to play down the environmental damage.An abbreviation of the Guardian quote, where Hayward simply refers to the spill as "tiny," also regularly features in news reports.BP is beefing up its public relations effort to deal with the spill. This week a former campaign press aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney started as BP's U.S. spokesperson.That hire raised some eyebrows, given critics of Cheney -- a one-time chief executive of oil field services firm Halliburton -- associate the former vice president with what they see as excessively close ties between the government and Big Oil under former Republican President George W. Bush. (Reporting by Tom Bergin, Editing by Frances Kerry)
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BP CEO Tony Hayward, on the front lines of his company's battle to contain the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, apologized on Wednesday for saying he wants "my life back."Hayward, who has been thrust into a media spotlight since an April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history, said in a statement he was appalled when he read his comment.The BP chief had remarked "I want my life back," to several news organizations, including Reuters, in recent days."I made a hurtful and thoughtless comment," Hayward said in a statement. "I apologize, especially to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident. Those words don't represent how I feel about this tragedy.""My first priority is doing all we can to restore the lives of the people of the Gulf region and their families - to restore their lives, not mine," he added.Hayward's "life back" gaffe was not the first by the plain- speaking and press-shy geologist at the helm of the oil giant.On May 18, he told Britain's Sky News: "I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest."Hayward and BP executives have been challenged with the comment -- made before oil hit the Gulf shore -- regularly since in television interviews in the United States, where the spill is dominating the national news.As much as 19,000 barrels of oil (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day has been pouring into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana, threatening fisheries, wildlife and beaches along a coastline that stretches to Florida.In an interview with the Guardian newspaper published on May 14, Hayward said: "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.""That remark was typical of the technically accurate comments Hayward makes, which -- particularly when abbreviated -- have have led critics to charge that BP is trying to play down the environmental damage.An abbreviation of the Guardian quote, where Hayward simply refers to the spill as "tiny," also regularly features in news reports.BP is beefing up its public relations effort to deal with the spill. This week a former campaign press aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney started as BP's U.S. spokesperson.That hire raised some eyebrows, given critics of Cheney -- a one-time chief executive of oil field services firm Halliburton -- associate the former vice president with what they see as excessively close ties between the government and Big Oil under former Republican President George W. Bush. (Reporting by Tom Bergin, Editing by Frances Kerry)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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Scientists devise part-human, part-machine transistor
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Washington, June 03 (ANI): Scientists have implanted a nano-sized transistor inside a cell-like membrane and powered it using the cell's own fuel, paving way for new types of man-machine interactions.The experiment is believed to be the most intimate linking between man and machine till date.The technology may help experts learn the inner workings of disease-related proteins inside cell membranes, which would lead to new ways to read and control brain or nerve cells.Aleksandr Noy, a scientist at the University of California, Merced who is a co-author on the recent ACS Nano Letters, said: "This device is as close to the seamless marriage of biological and electronic structures as anything else that people did before."We can take proteins, real biological machines, and make them part of a working microelectronic circuit."The experts created the implanted circuit with a simple transistor. The scientists used a next generation material known as a carbon nanotube for the transistor, instead of most commonly used silicon.The scientists then coated the carbon nanotube transistor with a lipid bilayer, basically a double wall of oil molecules that cells use to separate their insides from their environment. The scientists didn't use an actual cell membrane, however.To this basic cellular structure the UC scientists added an ion pump, a biological device that pumps charged atoms of calcium, potassium, and other elements into and out of the cell. Then they added a solution of adenosine tri-phosphate, or ATP, which fuels the ion pump.The ion pump changes the electrical charge inside the cell, which then changes the electrical charge going through the transistor, which the scientists could measure and monitor.In their initial device the biological pump powered the artificial transistor. Future devices could work just the opposite, where an outside electrical current could power the pump and alter how quickly ions are pumped into or out of a cell. That could have dramatic effects.For instance, instead of using drugs to block the release or uptake of various drugs or neurotransmitters, scientists could change the electricity regulating the ion pump, which would then change the amount of the drug or molecule inside, or outside, the cell.Other groups have tried to mix man and machine before, said Itamar Willner, a scientist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but none have achieved this level of intimacy."Previous students used enzymes that were not incorporated into membranes in the transistors. In this case, an enzyme that usually works in the membrane was linked to carbon nanotubes," Discovery News quoted Willner, as saying.The new enzyme-transistor link could help eventually monitor and even treat diseases and conditions, said Willner.Willner said: "We don't want to just sense things, we also want to treat them. Clinical applications may still be years away, but the new research is the most intimate link between life and machines that has yet been created."The study has been published in the journal ACS Nano Letters. (ANI)
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Washington, June 03 (ANI): Scientists have implanted a nano-sized transistor inside a cell-like membrane and powered it using the cell's own fuel, paving way for new types of man-machine interactions.The experiment is believed to be the most intimate linking between man and machine till date.The technology may help experts learn the inner workings of disease-related proteins inside cell membranes, which would lead to new ways to read and control brain or nerve cells.Aleksandr Noy, a scientist at the University of California, Merced who is a co-author on the recent ACS Nano Letters, said: "This device is as close to the seamless marriage of biological and electronic structures as anything else that people did before."We can take proteins, real biological machines, and make them part of a working microelectronic circuit."The experts created the implanted circuit with a simple transistor. The scientists used a next generation material known as a carbon nanotube for the transistor, instead of most commonly used silicon.The scientists then coated the carbon nanotube transistor with a lipid bilayer, basically a double wall of oil molecules that cells use to separate their insides from their environment. The scientists didn't use an actual cell membrane, however.To this basic cellular structure the UC scientists added an ion pump, a biological device that pumps charged atoms of calcium, potassium, and other elements into and out of the cell. Then they added a solution of adenosine tri-phosphate, or ATP, which fuels the ion pump.The ion pump changes the electrical charge inside the cell, which then changes the electrical charge going through the transistor, which the scientists could measure and monitor.In their initial device the biological pump powered the artificial transistor. Future devices could work just the opposite, where an outside electrical current could power the pump and alter how quickly ions are pumped into or out of a cell. That could have dramatic effects.For instance, instead of using drugs to block the release or uptake of various drugs or neurotransmitters, scientists could change the electricity regulating the ion pump, which would then change the amount of the drug or molecule inside, or outside, the cell.Other groups have tried to mix man and machine before, said Itamar Willner, a scientist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but none have achieved this level of intimacy."Previous students used enzymes that were not incorporated into membranes in the transistors. In this case, an enzyme that usually works in the membrane was linked to carbon nanotubes," Discovery News quoted Willner, as saying.The new enzyme-transistor link could help eventually monitor and even treat diseases and conditions, said Willner.Willner said: "We don't want to just sense things, we also want to treat them. Clinical applications may still be years away, but the new research is the most intimate link between life and machines that has yet been created."The study has been published in the journal ACS Nano Letters. (ANI)
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Soon, `green` cars that could run on CO2 and sunlight
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London, June 3 (ANI): A team at Sandia National Laboratories is working on creating building blocks for synthetic liquid fuels that could reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly.Their cerium-oxide-based system can convert CO2 into carbon monoxide, and can also turn water into hydrogen.The machine, called the Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5) consists of two chambers separated by rotating rings of cerium oxide. As the rings spin, a large parabolic mirror concentrates solar energy onto one side, heating it to 1500 degree Celsius and causing the cerium oxide there to release oxygen gas into one of the chambers, whence it is pumped away.As the ring rotates further it takes the deoxygenated ring off the heat and allows it to cool before it swings round to the other chamber. CO2 is pumped into the second chamber, causing the cooled cerium to steal back an oxygen molecule, producing carbon monoxide and cerium oxide.The process also works with water instead of CO2, with the reaction this time producing hydrogen.Once the reactor starts producing a steady stream of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the gases can be converted into a synthetic liquid fuel. Initially, the team plan to use CO2 captured from power-plant exhaust flues to produce their synthetic fuel but eventually plan to use CO2 extracted directly from the air."That is a huge challenge in itself, and we opted to focus on one hard problem at a time," New Scientist quoted James Miller, a combustion chemist at Sandia, as saying.The reactor concentrates solar energy using mirrors, in a chamber containing calcium oxide. At 400 degree Celsius, heat causes the calcium oxide to react with CO2 to form calcium carbonate. This calcium carbonate is again heated to 800 degree Celsius, to release pure CO2 and revert back to calcium oxide.This pure CO2 is pumped into a second reactor, where heat zinc oxide at 1700 degree Celsius produces oxygen molecules and zinc metal. The temperature is then lowered and CO2 and steam are pumped in, which react with the pure zinc to form syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, - and zinc oxide once again."This area holds out the promise for technologies that can produce large amounts of carbon-neutral power at affordable prices, which can be used where and when that power is needed," he says."It is one of the few technology areas that could truly revolutionise our energy future." (ANI)
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London, June 3 (ANI): A team at Sandia National Laboratories is working on creating building blocks for synthetic liquid fuels that could reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly.Their cerium-oxide-based system can convert CO2 into carbon monoxide, and can also turn water into hydrogen.The machine, called the Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5) consists of two chambers separated by rotating rings of cerium oxide. As the rings spin, a large parabolic mirror concentrates solar energy onto one side, heating it to 1500 degree Celsius and causing the cerium oxide there to release oxygen gas into one of the chambers, whence it is pumped away.As the ring rotates further it takes the deoxygenated ring off the heat and allows it to cool before it swings round to the other chamber. CO2 is pumped into the second chamber, causing the cooled cerium to steal back an oxygen molecule, producing carbon monoxide and cerium oxide.The process also works with water instead of CO2, with the reaction this time producing hydrogen.Once the reactor starts producing a steady stream of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the gases can be converted into a synthetic liquid fuel. Initially, the team plan to use CO2 captured from power-plant exhaust flues to produce their synthetic fuel but eventually plan to use CO2 extracted directly from the air."That is a huge challenge in itself, and we opted to focus on one hard problem at a time," New Scientist quoted James Miller, a combustion chemist at Sandia, as saying.The reactor concentrates solar energy using mirrors, in a chamber containing calcium oxide. At 400 degree Celsius, heat causes the calcium oxide to react with CO2 to form calcium carbonate. This calcium carbonate is again heated to 800 degree Celsius, to release pure CO2 and revert back to calcium oxide.This pure CO2 is pumped into a second reactor, where heat zinc oxide at 1700 degree Celsius produces oxygen molecules and zinc metal. The temperature is then lowered and CO2 and steam are pumped in, which react with the pure zinc to form syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, - and zinc oxide once again."This area holds out the promise for technologies that can produce large amounts of carbon-neutral power at affordable prices, which can be used where and when that power is needed," he says."It is one of the few technology areas that could truly revolutionise our energy future." (ANI)
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Insulin pills for diabetics may make painful jabs history
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Washington, June 3 (ANI): Good news for diabetics on insulin: After years of research, insulin pills that could make it easier for patients to manage diabetes are finally moving ahead in clinical trials.The new development may soon make painful insulin jabs a thing of the past.The topic has been highlighted in the current issue of Chemical and Engineering News (C and EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.C and EN Senior Correspondent Ann Thayer notes that drug manufacturers have tried for years to develop oral insulin without much success.Insulin is a peptide hormone that people with diabetes currently take by injection to bring their blood sugar to within normal levels.But doing so requires uncomfortable, inconvenient injections that can make patients reluctant to use the drug frequently enough to adequately control their blood sugar. An oral form of insulin could help solve this problem.However, stomach acids and enzymes easily destroy insulin and other protein-based drugs. Scientists have had difficulty finding an effective way to eliminate this problem.They've responded to this challenge by developing special coatings for insulin pills that prevent stomach acid from destroying them.Scientists also are using additives that make it easier for the intestine to absorb large molecules like insulin.After years of setbacks, signs of success may be at hand. Several insulin pills are now in various stages of clinical trials, and proof of concept may allow them to move into late-stage and more rigorous clinical testing.However, only time will tell whether these much-anticipated pills will make it to the market. (ANI)
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Washington, June 3 (ANI): Good news for diabetics on insulin: After years of research, insulin pills that could make it easier for patients to manage diabetes are finally moving ahead in clinical trials.The new development may soon make painful insulin jabs a thing of the past.The topic has been highlighted in the current issue of Chemical and Engineering News (C and EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.C and EN Senior Correspondent Ann Thayer notes that drug manufacturers have tried for years to develop oral insulin without much success.Insulin is a peptide hormone that people with diabetes currently take by injection to bring their blood sugar to within normal levels.But doing so requires uncomfortable, inconvenient injections that can make patients reluctant to use the drug frequently enough to adequately control their blood sugar. An oral form of insulin could help solve this problem.However, stomach acids and enzymes easily destroy insulin and other protein-based drugs. Scientists have had difficulty finding an effective way to eliminate this problem.They've responded to this challenge by developing special coatings for insulin pills that prevent stomach acid from destroying them.Scientists also are using additives that make it easier for the intestine to absorb large molecules like insulin.After years of setbacks, signs of success may be at hand. Several insulin pills are now in various stages of clinical trials, and proof of concept may allow them to move into late-stage and more rigorous clinical testing.However, only time will tell whether these much-anticipated pills will make it to the market. (ANI)
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BP inches ahead in latest bid to control oil spill
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Robot submarines plying the dark, frigid depths of the Gulf of Mexico made halting progress in BP's latest bid to siphon off oil belching from its ruptured wellhead, but tar balls and other debris from the spill posed new threats to the region's shoreline.While BP Plc inched ahead with its new plan to contain the undersea gusher, the British energy giant saw its battered shares stabilize even as CEO Tony Hayward retreated from yet another public relations gaffe -- apologizing for his widely reported remark that "I want my life back."BP's latest attempted fix hit a snag on Wednesday when a diamond-tipped saw got lodged in the deep-sea pipe through which oil is billowing into the Gulf. But BP freed the cutting tool after several hours of tricky maneuvering of its robot submarines, paving the way for the process to continue, a source familiar with the work told Reuters.The BP oil spill, which began in April, is causing an ecological and economic catastrophe along the U.S. Gulf Coast.Many thousands of fishermen, shrimpers and other seafood workers have been idled for weeks by government-imposed fishing restrictions that were expanded on Wednesday to cover 37 percent of U.S. federal waters in the Gulf.GRAPHIC, click http://link.reuters.com/wyf57kIn the struggle to minimize shoreline encroachment of oil, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal won White House approval on Wednesday for a controversial plan to essentially manufacture several new barrier islands off his state with sand dredged from the sea floor. Louisiana has been hardest hit so far by the oil slick.BP pledged to pay for the offshore sand berms to be built.Jindal, a rising star in the Republican Party, has accused the government of being too slow to respond to the crisis, heightening the political pressure Democratic President Barack Obama has faced in confronting one of the key tests of his administration.In Pittsburgh, Obama called for an end to oil company tax breaks in the wake of the spill and pledged to find Senate support for a bill to overhaul U.S. energy policy.LAST BEST HOPEThe last best hope of gaining some measure of control over the worst U.S. oil spill in history was concentrated a mile (1.6 km) beneath the surface of the Gulf at the site of BP's catastrophic blowout.The spill was unleashed on April 20 by an explosion that demolished the BP-contracted Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and killed 11 crewmen.After a fruitless three-day attempt to plug up the crippled wellhead with drilling mud, BP embarked late on Tuesday on a new strategy to curtail the flow of oil that has been escaping into the Gulf at the rate of up to 19,000 barrels (800,000 gallons/3 million litres) a day.The latest plan calls for cutting away the leaking riser pipe protruding from the failed blowout preventer, then lowering a containment cap onto the remaining wellhead assembly to trap much of the escaping oil and funnel it to the surface.The operation was expected to take 72 hours to complete. Officials have warned that the flow of oil could temporarily increase by as much as 20 percent between the time the riser pipe is severed and the containment cap is lowered into place.BP does not expect to be able to fully choke off the flow until August, when two emergency relief wells are due for completion.Meanwhile, the fragmented, far-flung oil slick posed a growing threat to several parts of the Gulf.One of the first populated areas soiled earlier by tar balls from the spill, the popular Alabama resort town and bird sanctuary of Dauphin Island, was hit this week with a new wave of oil blobs that also started washing up in Mississippi."It's something we'd rather not have happen, but we all knew the possibility was there," Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier said.Toxic goo from the spill also crept to within 10 miles (16 km) of Florida's northwest panhandle, where officials said it could make landfall by Friday.TOURISM INDUSTRYFlorida Governor Charlie Crist said his state has launched a massive advertising campaign, backed in part by $25 million from BP, aimed at bolstering a $65 billion-a-year tourism industry threatened by the Gulf Coast disaster."We understand what is happening and are doing everything we can to protect our beautiful state," Crist said.In Louisiana, Jindal announced final approval from the Obama administration for a plan to build five large offshore berms with sand dredged from the sea floor to help shield the state's fragile coastline.Critics have questioned whether the artificial barrier islands can be built up quickly enough to keep more oil from washing ashore. But supporters say the spill is likely to remain a threat for months and that the berms could prove crucial in holding back oil debris that would otherwise be swept inland by hurricanes.U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen ordered BP to pay for the five berms, in addition to one he already approved last week. The oil company later said it supported the six projects and would pay the estimated $360 million cost to build them.BP, which has lost one-third of its market value, or about $67 billion (46 billion pounds), since the blowout, saw its shares stabilize on Wednesday after sharp declines in London and Wall Street a day earlier. The sell-off was driven in part by the U.S. government announcement that it had launched a criminal investigation of BP's role in the spill.The outlook for BP was further clouded as the market barometer of the company's risk of defaulting on its debt hit a new high on Wednesday, reflecting growing concerns about BP's exposure to the mounting costs of the Gulf spill.Credit default swaps protecting BP's debt jumped 87 basis points to a record 255 basis points, or $255,000 per year to insure $10 million for five years, according to Markit Intraday. By comparison, those swaps stood at about 100 basis points last Friday and 42 basis points in April.The cost of insuring the debt of rig operator Transocean and Anadarko Petroleum Corp, which owns a 25 percent stake in the blown-out well, also reached record levels on Wednesday.(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays, Eileen O'Grady and Chris Baltimore in Houston, Michael Peltier in Tallahassee, Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Verna Gates on Dauphin Island, and Joanne Frearson in London; writing by Steve Gorman; editing by Eric Beech and Will Dunham)(For more business news on Reuters India click http://in.reuters.com)
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Robot submarines plying the dark, frigid depths of the Gulf of Mexico made halting progress in BP's latest bid to siphon off oil belching from its ruptured wellhead, but tar balls and other debris from the spill posed new threats to the region's shoreline.While BP Plc inched ahead with its new plan to contain the undersea gusher, the British energy giant saw its battered shares stabilize even as CEO Tony Hayward retreated from yet another public relations gaffe -- apologizing for his widely reported remark that "I want my life back."BP's latest attempted fix hit a snag on Wednesday when a diamond-tipped saw got lodged in the deep-sea pipe through which oil is billowing into the Gulf. But BP freed the cutting tool after several hours of tricky maneuvering of its robot submarines, paving the way for the process to continue, a source familiar with the work told Reuters.The BP oil spill, which began in April, is causing an ecological and economic catastrophe along the U.S. Gulf Coast.Many thousands of fishermen, shrimpers and other seafood workers have been idled for weeks by government-imposed fishing restrictions that were expanded on Wednesday to cover 37 percent of U.S. federal waters in the Gulf.GRAPHIC, click http://link.reuters.com/wyf57kIn the struggle to minimize shoreline encroachment of oil, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal won White House approval on Wednesday for a controversial plan to essentially manufacture several new barrier islands off his state with sand dredged from the sea floor. Louisiana has been hardest hit so far by the oil slick.BP pledged to pay for the offshore sand berms to be built.Jindal, a rising star in the Republican Party, has accused the government of being too slow to respond to the crisis, heightening the political pressure Democratic President Barack Obama has faced in confronting one of the key tests of his administration.In Pittsburgh, Obama called for an end to oil company tax breaks in the wake of the spill and pledged to find Senate support for a bill to overhaul U.S. energy policy.LAST BEST HOPEThe last best hope of gaining some measure of control over the worst U.S. oil spill in history was concentrated a mile (1.6 km) beneath the surface of the Gulf at the site of BP's catastrophic blowout.The spill was unleashed on April 20 by an explosion that demolished the BP-contracted Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and killed 11 crewmen.After a fruitless three-day attempt to plug up the crippled wellhead with drilling mud, BP embarked late on Tuesday on a new strategy to curtail the flow of oil that has been escaping into the Gulf at the rate of up to 19,000 barrels (800,000 gallons/3 million litres) a day.The latest plan calls for cutting away the leaking riser pipe protruding from the failed blowout preventer, then lowering a containment cap onto the remaining wellhead assembly to trap much of the escaping oil and funnel it to the surface.The operation was expected to take 72 hours to complete. Officials have warned that the flow of oil could temporarily increase by as much as 20 percent between the time the riser pipe is severed and the containment cap is lowered into place.BP does not expect to be able to fully choke off the flow until August, when two emergency relief wells are due for completion.Meanwhile, the fragmented, far-flung oil slick posed a growing threat to several parts of the Gulf.One of the first populated areas soiled earlier by tar balls from the spill, the popular Alabama resort town and bird sanctuary of Dauphin Island, was hit this week with a new wave of oil blobs that also started washing up in Mississippi."It's something we'd rather not have happen, but we all knew the possibility was there," Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier said.Toxic goo from the spill also crept to within 10 miles (16 km) of Florida's northwest panhandle, where officials said it could make landfall by Friday.TOURISM INDUSTRYFlorida Governor Charlie Crist said his state has launched a massive advertising campaign, backed in part by $25 million from BP, aimed at bolstering a $65 billion-a-year tourism industry threatened by the Gulf Coast disaster."We understand what is happening and are doing everything we can to protect our beautiful state," Crist said.In Louisiana, Jindal announced final approval from the Obama administration for a plan to build five large offshore berms with sand dredged from the sea floor to help shield the state's fragile coastline.Critics have questioned whether the artificial barrier islands can be built up quickly enough to keep more oil from washing ashore. But supporters say the spill is likely to remain a threat for months and that the berms could prove crucial in holding back oil debris that would otherwise be swept inland by hurricanes.U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen ordered BP to pay for the five berms, in addition to one he already approved last week. The oil company later said it supported the six projects and would pay the estimated $360 million cost to build them.BP, which has lost one-third of its market value, or about $67 billion (46 billion pounds), since the blowout, saw its shares stabilize on Wednesday after sharp declines in London and Wall Street a day earlier. The sell-off was driven in part by the U.S. government announcement that it had launched a criminal investigation of BP's role in the spill.The outlook for BP was further clouded as the market barometer of the company's risk of defaulting on its debt hit a new high on Wednesday, reflecting growing concerns about BP's exposure to the mounting costs of the Gulf spill.Credit default swaps protecting BP's debt jumped 87 basis points to a record 255 basis points, or $255,000 per year to insure $10 million for five years, according to Markit Intraday. By comparison, those swaps stood at about 100 basis points last Friday and 42 basis points in April.The cost of insuring the debt of rig operator Transocean and Anadarko Petroleum Corp, which owns a 25 percent stake in the blown-out well, also reached record levels on Wednesday.(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays, Eileen O'Grady and Chris Baltimore in Houston, Michael Peltier in Tallahassee, Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Verna Gates on Dauphin Island, and Joanne Frearson in London; writing by Steve Gorman; editing by Eric Beech and Will Dunham)(For more business news on Reuters India click http://in.reuters.com)
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In oil spill shadow, Obama pledges energy bill push
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President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to find support in the Senate for a bill to overhaul U.S. energy policy, using the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to hasten production of cleaner renewable fuels.Obama, in remarks at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, also said he expected to see strong job growth reflected in the May jobs report to be released on Friday.The president had planned to focus his year on boosting jobs in the United States, where unemployment is hovering near 10 percent, but other issues -- healthcare reform, changes to financial regulation, and now the Gulf of Mexico oil spill -- have distracted attention from that.Obama, a Democrat, accused Republicans of sitting on the sidelines while his administration worked to rescue the economy. But he also said he would seek their support to pass energy legislation in the U.S. Senate despite strong resistance ahead of November congressional elections."The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months," Obama said, referring to a bill that is languishing in the Senate."I will continue to make the case for a clean energy future wherever and whenever I can. I will work with anyone to get this done. And we will get it done," he said to applause.The House of Representatives has already passed a bill that would put limits on greenhouse gas emissions, but a similar effort has stalled in the Senate.Obama said the oil spill should prompt Americans to acknowledge that the United States could not depend solely on fossil fuels in the future.That meant tapping into U.S. reserves of natural gas, increasing the number of nuclear power plants, and rolling back "billions of dollars of tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development."SHORT TERM SOLUTIONHe said the United States could only pursue offshore drilling as a short-term solution to its energy needs and said U.S. dependence on fossil fuels threatened its security while putting the economy and the environment at risk.Obama also pushed his case for a system that would limit greenhouse gas emissions from industry, a key ingredient for the United States in a still elusive global agreement to fight climate change."The only way the transition to clean energy will ultimately succeed is if the private sector is fully invested in this future -- if capital comes off the sidelines and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs is unleashed," he said."And the only way to do that is by finally putting a price on carbon pollution."In the coming weeks Democrats in the Senate are expected to plot strategy for dealing with energy and environment legislation. Prior to Obama's remarks on Wednesday there was little evidence the Senate would take up a comprehensive measure this year.Nevertheless, Democratic Senator John Kerry has been hoping the full Senate would debate and vote on a bill in late June or early July, leaving enough time in September or October to work out a final bill with the House.An Environmental Protection Agency economic analysis of the a climate and energy bill written by Kerry and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is expected sometime in June. (Writing by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to find support in the Senate for a bill to overhaul U.S. energy policy, using the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to hasten production of cleaner renewable fuels.Obama, in remarks at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, also said he expected to see strong job growth reflected in the May jobs report to be released on Friday.The president had planned to focus his year on boosting jobs in the United States, where unemployment is hovering near 10 percent, but other issues -- healthcare reform, changes to financial regulation, and now the Gulf of Mexico oil spill -- have distracted attention from that.Obama, a Democrat, accused Republicans of sitting on the sidelines while his administration worked to rescue the economy. But he also said he would seek their support to pass energy legislation in the U.S. Senate despite strong resistance ahead of November congressional elections."The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months," Obama said, referring to a bill that is languishing in the Senate."I will continue to make the case for a clean energy future wherever and whenever I can. I will work with anyone to get this done. And we will get it done," he said to applause.The House of Representatives has already passed a bill that would put limits on greenhouse gas emissions, but a similar effort has stalled in the Senate.Obama said the oil spill should prompt Americans to acknowledge that the United States could not depend solely on fossil fuels in the future.That meant tapping into U.S. reserves of natural gas, increasing the number of nuclear power plants, and rolling back "billions of dollars of tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development."SHORT TERM SOLUTIONHe said the United States could only pursue offshore drilling as a short-term solution to its energy needs and said U.S. dependence on fossil fuels threatened its security while putting the economy and the environment at risk.Obama also pushed his case for a system that would limit greenhouse gas emissions from industry, a key ingredient for the United States in a still elusive global agreement to fight climate change."The only way the transition to clean energy will ultimately succeed is if the private sector is fully invested in this future -- if capital comes off the sidelines and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs is unleashed," he said."And the only way to do that is by finally putting a price on carbon pollution."In the coming weeks Democrats in the Senate are expected to plot strategy for dealing with energy and environment legislation. Prior to Obama's remarks on Wednesday there was little evidence the Senate would take up a comprehensive measure this year.Nevertheless, Democratic Senator John Kerry has been hoping the full Senate would debate and vote on a bill in late June or early July, leaving enough time in September or October to work out a final bill with the House.An Environmental Protection Agency economic analysis of the a climate and energy bill written by Kerry and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is expected sometime in June. (Writing by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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Peaches, plums can help fight breast cancer
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Washington, June 3 (ANI): Peach and plum extracts can help fight breast cancer cells, according to lab tests at Texas AgriLife Research.AgriLife Research scientists say two phenolic compounds are responsible for the cancer cell deaths in the study, which was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. The phenols are organic compounds that occur in fruits. They are slightly acidic and may be associated with traits such as aroma, taste or color."It was a differential effect which is what you're looking for because in current cancer treatment with chemotherapy, the substance kills all cells, so it is really tough on the body," said Dr. David Byrne, AgriLife Research plant breeder who studies stone fruit. "Here, there is a five-fold difference in the toxic intensity. You can put it at a level where it will kill the cancer cells - the very aggressive ones - and not the normal ones."Byrne and Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallos originally studied the antioxidants and phytonutrients in plums and found them to match or exceed the blueberry which had been considered superior to other fruits in those categories."The following step was to choose some of these high antioxidant commercial varieties and study their anticancer properties," Cisneros-Zevallos said. "And we chose breast cancer as the target because it's one of the cancers with highest incidence among women. So it is of big concern."Cisneros-Zevallos, an AgriLife Research food scientist, said the team compared normal cells to two types of breast cancer, including the most aggressive type. The cells were treated with an extract from two commercial varieties, the "Rich Lady" peach and the "Black Splendor" plum."These extracts killed the cancer cells but not the normal cells," Cisneros-Zevallos said.A closer look at the extracts determined that two specific phenolic acid components - chlorogenic and neochlorogenic - were responsible for killing the cancer cells while not affecting the normal cells, Cisneros-Zevallos said.The two compounds are very common in fruits, the researchers said, but the stone fruits such as plums and peaches have especially high levels."So this is very, very attractive from the point of view of being an alternative to typical chemotherapy which kills normal cells along with cancerous ones," Byrne added. (ANI)
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Washington, June 3 (ANI): Peach and plum extracts can help fight breast cancer cells, according to lab tests at Texas AgriLife Research.AgriLife Research scientists say two phenolic compounds are responsible for the cancer cell deaths in the study, which was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. The phenols are organic compounds that occur in fruits. They are slightly acidic and may be associated with traits such as aroma, taste or color."It was a differential effect which is what you're looking for because in current cancer treatment with chemotherapy, the substance kills all cells, so it is really tough on the body," said Dr. David Byrne, AgriLife Research plant breeder who studies stone fruit. "Here, there is a five-fold difference in the toxic intensity. You can put it at a level where it will kill the cancer cells - the very aggressive ones - and not the normal ones."Byrne and Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallos originally studied the antioxidants and phytonutrients in plums and found them to match or exceed the blueberry which had been considered superior to other fruits in those categories."The following step was to choose some of these high antioxidant commercial varieties and study their anticancer properties," Cisneros-Zevallos said. "And we chose breast cancer as the target because it's one of the cancers with highest incidence among women. So it is of big concern."Cisneros-Zevallos, an AgriLife Research food scientist, said the team compared normal cells to two types of breast cancer, including the most aggressive type. The cells were treated with an extract from two commercial varieties, the "Rich Lady" peach and the "Black Splendor" plum."These extracts killed the cancer cells but not the normal cells," Cisneros-Zevallos said.A closer look at the extracts determined that two specific phenolic acid components - chlorogenic and neochlorogenic - were responsible for killing the cancer cells while not affecting the normal cells, Cisneros-Zevallos said.The two compounds are very common in fruits, the researchers said, but the stone fruits such as plums and peaches have especially high levels."So this is very, very attractive from the point of view of being an alternative to typical chemotherapy which kills normal cells along with cancerous ones," Byrne added. (ANI)
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Bone drug may help fight breast cancer
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London, June 3 (ANI): Zoledronic acid (Zometa), the bone strengthening drug, can help fight metastatic breast cancer when given before surgery, suggests a new research by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.In the study, when the drug was given along with chemotherapy for three months before breast cancer surgery, it reduced the number of women who had tumour cells in their bone marrow at the time of surgery.Every day, tumours shed thousands of cells, which spread throughout the body and are referred to as disseminated tumour cells (DTCs). Breast cancer DTCs often lodge in bone marrow where bone growth factors help them survive.Chemotherapy can increase bone turnover and bone growth factors, potentially exacerbating the problem of DTCs in the bone, which can resurface later to cause metastatic disease in cancer patients."Bone marrow seems to be a DTC sanctuary, allowing them to adapt and disseminate to different organs, where they're a leading cause of death. We believe that zoledronic acid inhibits the release of growth factors that help support the growth of DTCs," said study leader Rebecca Aft, associate professor of surgery and a breast cancer specialist at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.Zoledronic acid is generally prescribed to reduce and delay bone complications due to multiple myeloma and bone metastases from solid tumors.Two recent studies showed that zoledronic acid improves disease-free survival when used along with estrogen-lowering therapy before breast cancer surgery. Estrogen-lowering therapy, like chemotherapy, potentially increases bone loss.In this randomized phase II clinical trial, researchers split 109 women with newly diagnosed stage II or stage III breast cancer into two groups. The control group received chemotherapy alone, while the other received a combination treatment of chemotherapy and zoledronic acid.After three months of therapy, patients with DTCs in their bone marrow decreased from 43 percent to 30 percent in the combination group, compared with a decrease from 48 percent to 47 percent in the control group. This result approached statistical significance.The researchers also found that of those patients who had no DTCs in their bone marrow at the start of the study, 87 percent remained negative after three months of combination treatment compared to 60 percent of those who received chemotherapy alone, a result that was statistically significant.Zoledronic acid treatment with chemotherapy had additional benefits. Women in the combination group experienced significant gains in bone density after 12 months.This is helpful for breast cancer patients, who often develop osteoporosis as a side effect of chemotherapy and other breast cancer treatments.The study was published in the May issue of The Lancet Oncology. (ANI)
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London, June 3 (ANI): Zoledronic acid (Zometa), the bone strengthening drug, can help fight metastatic breast cancer when given before surgery, suggests a new research by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.In the study, when the drug was given along with chemotherapy for three months before breast cancer surgery, it reduced the number of women who had tumour cells in their bone marrow at the time of surgery.Every day, tumours shed thousands of cells, which spread throughout the body and are referred to as disseminated tumour cells (DTCs). Breast cancer DTCs often lodge in bone marrow where bone growth factors help them survive.Chemotherapy can increase bone turnover and bone growth factors, potentially exacerbating the problem of DTCs in the bone, which can resurface later to cause metastatic disease in cancer patients."Bone marrow seems to be a DTC sanctuary, allowing them to adapt and disseminate to different organs, where they're a leading cause of death. We believe that zoledronic acid inhibits the release of growth factors that help support the growth of DTCs," said study leader Rebecca Aft, associate professor of surgery and a breast cancer specialist at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.Zoledronic acid is generally prescribed to reduce and delay bone complications due to multiple myeloma and bone metastases from solid tumors.Two recent studies showed that zoledronic acid improves disease-free survival when used along with estrogen-lowering therapy before breast cancer surgery. Estrogen-lowering therapy, like chemotherapy, potentially increases bone loss.In this randomized phase II clinical trial, researchers split 109 women with newly diagnosed stage II or stage III breast cancer into two groups. The control group received chemotherapy alone, while the other received a combination treatment of chemotherapy and zoledronic acid.After three months of therapy, patients with DTCs in their bone marrow decreased from 43 percent to 30 percent in the combination group, compared with a decrease from 48 percent to 47 percent in the control group. This result approached statistical significance.The researchers also found that of those patients who had no DTCs in their bone marrow at the start of the study, 87 percent remained negative after three months of combination treatment compared to 60 percent of those who received chemotherapy alone, a result that was statistically significant.Zoledronic acid treatment with chemotherapy had additional benefits. Women in the combination group experienced significant gains in bone density after 12 months.This is helpful for breast cancer patients, who often develop osteoporosis as a side effect of chemotherapy and other breast cancer treatments.The study was published in the May issue of The Lancet Oncology. (ANI)
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Cameron says BP turned down offer to help on spill
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Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference.Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to "brainstorm" solutions to the oil spill.Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was "graciously" turned away by the British energy giant.He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now "writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies."The film director has helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles (3.2 km) below the surface.'REALLY SMART PEOPLE'Cameron suggested the U.S. government needed to take a more active role in monitoring the undersea gusher, which has become the worst oil spill in U.S. history."I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at," Cameron said.The BP oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast is located a mile (1.6 km) below the surface.While acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems."Most importantly," he added, "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."Among the key issues that Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it."The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation," he said."Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron added.Cameron made two documentaries about the wreck of the Titanic as well as the blockbuster 1997 movie "Titanic" using a small fleet of specially designed remotely operated underwater vehicles. He said his qualifications are not based on his background as a movie director but on his years of involvement in the deep-sea industry.(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, with additional reporting by Jill Sergeant)
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Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference.Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to "brainstorm" solutions to the oil spill.Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was "graciously" turned away by the British energy giant.He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now "writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies."The film director has helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles (3.2 km) below the surface.'REALLY SMART PEOPLE'Cameron suggested the U.S. government needed to take a more active role in monitoring the undersea gusher, which has become the worst oil spill in U.S. history."I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at," Cameron said.The BP oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast is located a mile (1.6 km) below the surface.While acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems."Most importantly," he added, "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."Among the key issues that Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it."The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation," he said."Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron added.Cameron made two documentaries about the wreck of the Titanic as well as the blockbuster 1997 movie "Titanic" using a small fleet of specially designed remotely operated underwater vehicles. He said his qualifications are not based on his background as a movie director but on his years of involvement in the deep-sea industry.(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, with additional reporting by Jill Sergeant)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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Fish conservation an economic saviour for Indian villages
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Conserving an endangered fish in the Ramganga River in India has proved to be not only environmentally rewarding but also an economic saviour to villages along the banks of the river.The Golden Mahseer in the Ramganga, which flows through the Jim Corbett National Park in the northern state of Uttarakhand, became endangered, to the point of extinction, due to illegal fishing and the use of explosives to kill and catch fish.Conservationists launched a programme to save the freshwater fish by explaining to villagers that saving the Golden Mahseer would also help save the high-profile tiger, as the fish was part of the tiger's food chain."I think it's a long-term message. If you can save what used to be food ... you would be conserving the most prized possessions, like the tigers and the leopards and the elephants," Sumantha Ghosh, president of the Mahseer Conservancy, told Reuters TV.Golden Mahseer numbers have now grown so much that villagers, who once killed the fish, have started a business on the back of the fish -- controlled angling in the Ramganga."With a gradual increase in tourism and our involvement in the project, the population of the Mahseer has increased in the river," explained Manoj Negi, one of the villagers benefiting financially from conserving the Golden Mahseer."Their number is better than before and tourists are coming to fish in this area," said Negi, now a Mahseer guide.The Mahseer is considered to be a prized catch among freshwater fishes, reaching up to nine feet (2.74 metres) in length and weighing as much as 54 kgs (119 pounds).The villagers now sell fishing kits and aids, and even act as guides to tourists who come to the area for fishing.The money generated by the sales, usually between Rs 1,200 to 1,500 ($25-30) is divided amongst the guides, the Mahseer Conservancy forum and the villages.(Writing by Michael Perry and Reuters Television; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)
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Conserving an endangered fish in the Ramganga River in India has proved to be not only environmentally rewarding but also an economic saviour to villages along the banks of the river.The Golden Mahseer in the Ramganga, which flows through the Jim Corbett National Park in the northern state of Uttarakhand, became endangered, to the point of extinction, due to illegal fishing and the use of explosives to kill and catch fish.Conservationists launched a programme to save the freshwater fish by explaining to villagers that saving the Golden Mahseer would also help save the high-profile tiger, as the fish was part of the tiger's food chain."I think it's a long-term message. If you can save what used to be food ... you would be conserving the most prized possessions, like the tigers and the leopards and the elephants," Sumantha Ghosh, president of the Mahseer Conservancy, told Reuters TV.Golden Mahseer numbers have now grown so much that villagers, who once killed the fish, have started a business on the back of the fish -- controlled angling in the Ramganga."With a gradual increase in tourism and our involvement in the project, the population of the Mahseer has increased in the river," explained Manoj Negi, one of the villagers benefiting financially from conserving the Golden Mahseer."Their number is better than before and tourists are coming to fish in this area," said Negi, now a Mahseer guide.The Mahseer is considered to be a prized catch among freshwater fishes, reaching up to nine feet (2.74 metres) in length and weighing as much as 54 kgs (119 pounds).The villagers now sell fishing kits and aids, and even act as guides to tourists who come to the area for fishing.The money generated by the sales, usually between Rs 1,200 to 1,500 ($25-30) is divided amongst the guides, the Mahseer Conservancy forum and the villages.(Writing by Michael Perry and Reuters Television; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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Titanic film director says BP turned down help offer
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Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference.Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to "brainstorm" solutions to the oil spill.Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was "graciously" turned away by the British energy giant.He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now "writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies."The film director has helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles (3.2 km) below the surface.'REALLY SMART PEOPLE'Cameron suggested the U.S. government needed to take a more active role in monitoring the undersea gusher, which has become the worst oil spill in U.S. history."I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at," Cameron said.The BP oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast is located a mile (1.6 km) below the surface.While acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems."Most importantly," he added, "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."Among the key issues that Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it."The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation," he said."Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron added.Cameron made two documentaries about the wreck of the Titanic as well as the blockbuster 1997 movie "Titanic" using a small fleet of specially designed remotely operated underwater vehicles. He said his qualifications are not based on his background as a movie director but on his years of involvement in the deep-sea industry.(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, with additional reporting by Jill Sergeant)
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Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference.Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to "brainstorm" solutions to the oil spill.Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was "graciously" turned away by the British energy giant.He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now "writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies."The film director has helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles (3.2 km) below the surface.'REALLY SMART PEOPLE'Cameron suggested the U.S. government needed to take a more active role in monitoring the undersea gusher, which has become the worst oil spill in U.S. history."I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at," Cameron said.The BP oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast is located a mile (1.6 km) below the surface.While acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems."Most importantly," he added, "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."Among the key issues that Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it."The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation," he said."Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron added.Cameron made two documentaries about the wreck of the Titanic as well as the blockbuster 1997 movie "Titanic" using a small fleet of specially designed remotely operated underwater vehicles. He said his qualifications are not based on his background as a movie director but on his years of involvement in the deep-sea industry.(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, with additional reporting by Jill Sergeant)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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Guatemala sinkhole not a sinkhole, says expert
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Washington, June 03 (ANI): The giant sinkhole in Guatemala City that has caught attention of the world shouldn't be called a sinkhole, according to an expert.Geologist Sam Bonis claims "sinkholes" mean areas where bedrock is solid but has been eaten away by groundwater.However, the situation beneath the Republic of Guatemala's capital, according to Bonis, is far different, and more dangerous."Sure, it looks a lot like a sinkhole. And a whale looks a lot like a fish, but calling it one would be very misleading," Discovery News quoted him, as saying.He said the term "piping feature" is more appropriate for the 100-foot deep, 66-foot side circular chasm.Bonis was part of a team of geologists who investigated similar hole that had opened after a sewage pipe broke just a few blocks from the current spot, in 2007.He said: "Our recommendation was that this could happen again. When you have water flowing from storm water runoff, a sewage pipe, or any kind of strong flow, it eats away at the loose material. We don't know how long it has to go on before it collapses. But once it starts collapsing, God help us." (ANI)
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Washington, June 03 (ANI): The giant sinkhole in Guatemala City that has caught attention of the world shouldn't be called a sinkhole, according to an expert.Geologist Sam Bonis claims "sinkholes" mean areas where bedrock is solid but has been eaten away by groundwater.However, the situation beneath the Republic of Guatemala's capital, according to Bonis, is far different, and more dangerous."Sure, it looks a lot like a sinkhole. And a whale looks a lot like a fish, but calling it one would be very misleading," Discovery News quoted him, as saying.He said the term "piping feature" is more appropriate for the 100-foot deep, 66-foot side circular chasm.Bonis was part of a team of geologists who investigated similar hole that had opened after a sewage pipe broke just a few blocks from the current spot, in 2007.He said: "Our recommendation was that this could happen again. When you have water flowing from storm water runoff, a sewage pipe, or any kind of strong flow, it eats away at the loose material. We don't know how long it has to go on before it collapses. But once it starts collapsing, God help us." (ANI)
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