Hurricane Hanna threatens US southeast coast

September 2, 2008 at 10:42 am · Filed under World News ·Tagged , ,

At the National Hurricane Center in Miami, meteorologist Brian Mayer examines a video monitor, Monday, Sept. 1, 2008, that displays an enhanced satellite image of the Atlantic Hurricane Basin and showing, from left to right, Hurricane Gustav, Tropical Storm Hanna and newly named Tropical Depression Nine.

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos – Hurricane Hanna stalled for hours over the southeastern Bahamas on Monday, lashing the islands with fierce winds and rain. Forecasters said it could threaten the southeast United States by midweek.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Ike emerged as a new threat in the open sea, as the National Hurricane Center in Miami monitored three weaker weather systems moving westward across the Atlantic.

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‘Lost World’ Beneath Caribbean To Be Explored

September 2, 2008 at 10:31 am · Filed under Earth ·Tagged ,

Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, are set to explore the world's deepest undersea volcanoes and find out what lives in a 'lost world' five kilometres beneath the Caribbean.

Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, are set to explore the world

Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, are set to explore the world’s deepest undersea volcanoes and find out what lives in a ‘lost world’ five kilometres beneath the Caribbean.
The team of researchers led by Dr Jon Copley has been awarded £462,000 by the Natural Environment Research Council to explore the Cayman Trough, which lies between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. This rift in the Caribbean seafloor plunges to a depth of more than 5000 metres below sea level. It contains the world’s deepest chain of undersea volcanoes, which have yet to be explored.
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Anti-cancer Flower Power: Researchers Combat Cancer With A Jasmine-based Drug

August 26, 2008 at 8:24 am · Filed under Health ·Tagged ,

iStockphoto/Tatiana Buzuleac)

Jasmine (Iasminum officinale). (Credit: iStockphoto/Tatiana Buzuleac)

Could a substance from the jasmine flower hold the key to an effective new therapy to treat cancer?

Prof. Eliezer Flescher of The Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University thinks so. He and his colleagues have developed an anti-cancer drug based on a decade of research into the commercial applications of the compound Jasmonate, a synthetic compound derived from the flower itself. Prof. Flescher began to research the compound about a decade ago, and with his recent development of the drug, his studies have now begun to bear meaningful fruit.

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Astronomers Find Unusual New Denizen Of The Solar System

August 24, 2008 at 8:55 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

N. Kaib)

The orbit of the newly discovered solar system object SQ372 (blue), in comparison to the orbits of Neptune, Pluto, and Sedna (white, green, red). The location of the Sun is marked by the yellow dot at the center. The inset panel shows an expanded view, including the orbits of Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter inside the orbit of Neptune. Even on this expanded scale, the size of Earth

A “minor planet” with the prosaic name 2006 SQ372 is just over two billion miles from Earth, a bit closer than the planet Neptune. But this lump of ice and rock is beginning the return leg of a 22,500-year journey that will take it to a distance of 150 billion miles, nearly 1,600 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun, according to a team of researchers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-II).

The discovery of this remarkable object was reported today in Chicago, at an international symposium titled “The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Asteroids to Cosmology.” A paper describing the discovery technique and the properties of 2006 SQ372 is being prepared for submission to The Astrophysical Journal.

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Malaria Researchers Identify New Mosquito Virus

August 24, 2008 at 8:24 am · Filed under Health ·Tagged , ,

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

Anopheles gambiae mosquito infected with GFP-expressing AgDNV. (Credit: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Malaria Research Institute have identified a previously unknown virus that is infectious to Anopheles gambiae—the mosquito primarily responsible for transmitting malaria.

According to the researchers, the discovered virus could one day be used to pass on new genetic information to An. gambiae mosquitoes as part of a strategy to control malaria, which kills over one million people worldwide each year.

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