Indian scientist discovers giant super-massive black holes

The new study that used cutting-edge infrared surveys of the sky has shown that they are emitting vast amounts of radiation through violent interactions with their host galaxies.

LONDON: Cambridge researchers, led by an Indian-origin scientist, have discovered a new population of enormous, rapidly growing super-massive black holes ever seen in the early Universe.

The black holes were previously undetected because they sit cocooned within thick layers of dust.

The new study that used cutting-edge infrared surveys of the sky has shown that they are emitting vast amounts of radiation through violent interactions with their host galaxies.

The study findings are published in the journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The most extreme object in the study is a super-massive black hole called ULASJ1234+0907.

This object, located in the direction of the constellation of Virgo, is so far away that the light from it has taken 11 billion years to reach Earth, so we see it as it appeared in the early Universe.

The monster black hole has more than 10 billion times the mass of the Sun and 10,000 times the mass of the super-massive black hole in our own Milky Way, making it one of the most massive ever seen.

The research indicates that that there may be as many as 400 such giant black holes in the part of the universe that we can observe.

"These results could have a significant impact on studies of super-massive black holes" said Dr Manda Banerji, lead author of the paper.

"Most black holes of this kind are seen through the matter they drag in. As the neighbouring material spirals in towards the black holes, it heats up. Astronomers are able to see this radiation and observe these systems," she said in a statement.

"Although these black holes have been studied for some time, the new results indicate that some of the most massive ones may have so far been hidden from our view," said Banerji.

The newly discovered black holes, devouring the equivalent of several hundred Suns every year, will shed light on the physical processes governing the growth of all super-massive black holes.

Super-massive black holes are now known to reside at the centres of all galaxies. In the most massive galaxies in the Universe, they are predicted to grow through violent collisions with other galaxies, which trigger the formation of stars and provides food for the black holes to devour.

The team from Cambridge used infrared surveys being carried out on the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) to peer through the dust and locate the giant black holes for the first time.

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NASA's Curiosity rover finds 'bright object' on Mars

The object was spotted just as Curiosity was using its scoop to pick up Martian soil from a sandy site known as "Rocknest".

WASHINGTON: NASA's Curiosity rover has spotted a bright object in the red soil of Mars which could have a possible impact on its sampling activity.

The object was spotted just as Curiosity was using its scoop to pick up Martian soil from a sandy site known as "Rocknest".

"The rover team decided to refrain from using the rover's robotic arm on Oct 8 due to the detection of a bright object on the ground that might be a piece from the rover," NASA said in a statement.

The best hypothesis till now is that it's a bit of plastic that fell off the rover, 'NBC News.com' reported.

The plan was to shovel and shake the light soil to clear out the sample collection system mounted on the end of Curiosity's 7-foot-long robotic arm.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reported that Curiosity's team refrained from using the robotic arm in order to check out the weird object.

"Curiosity is acquiring additional imaging of the object to aid the team in identifying the object and assessing possible impact, if any, to sampling activities," JPL said in its mission status report.

"These cases have generally been explained as bits of fabric or metal left behind by the rover, and it seems likely that the same will be said of Curiosity's "cigarette butt," said Sarah Milkovich, a member of the Curiosity team.

Such debris is harmless -- but if even a bit of it happened to get into the rover's sensitive chemistry labs, that could ruin the scientific readings, the report said.

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Factbox: A look at the Nobel Physics Prize

Here is a look at the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics, which was awarded on Tuesday to French scientist Serge Haroche and American David Wineland for work in quantum physics.

* The 2012 award was won for ground-breaking experimental methods that "enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems".

* Through their laboratory methods they have managed to measure and control very fragile quantum states, enabling their field of research to take the very first steps towards building a new type of super fast computer, based on quantum physics.

* 105 Nobel Prizes in Physics have been awarded to 191 Laureates between 1901-2011. John Bardeen has been won the prize twice.

* Only two women have won the prize, Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963. Curie won in 1903 with her husband Pierre.

* Winners include: Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen won the first Nobel Prize in 1901 for his discovery of X-Rays; Guglielmo Marconi in 1909 for his contribution to radio communications; Max Planck in 1918 for quantum theory; Albert Einstein for his theory of relativity in 1921 and Enrico Fermi in 1938 for his work on induced radioactivity.

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For perfect figure, try animal cell jab

LONDON: Here is some good news for dieters! Scientists are developing injections of animal cells that could help you lose stubborn fat like double chins and spare tyres.

Researchers from the Ohio University found they can burn off excess fat in specific areas of the body by injecting tiny capsules filled with a modified type of heat-producing cell commonly found in animals and babies, The Telegraph reported.

The cells release signals that alter the surrounding fat tissue so surplus calories are used up by producing body heat rather than being stored as fat. The jab could solve the problem faced by many dieters who find that no matter how much weight they lose or how much they exercise, there are some areas of the body where fat stubbornly refuses to come off.

Tests in animals have shown that injecting the capsules caused obese mice to lose up to 10% of their body weight even when being fed a high calorie diet. The researchers are now planning to begin treating obese dogs later this year. If successful and found to be safe, it is hoped that the treatment could be available for use in humans in around six years.

The researchers believe the capsules, which are around three times the width of a human hair, could be injected into specific fat deposits such as the thighs, buttocks, arms or under the chin to reduce the amount of fat stored there. "We have to prove that this is safe and effective in humans, but we could think about using it for body sculpturing. So if you wanted to remove a small amount of fat under your face like a double chin, or in their arms or legs, you could target these with a single injection," researcher Ouliana Ziouzenkova, said.

The researchers used fatlike cells from mice that had been genetically modified to burn off excess energy as body temperature.

They found that by encasing these cells inside plastic-like microcapsules, they could be transplanted without being destroyed by the recipient's immune system.

Obese mice that received the capsules lost a tenth of their body fat in a month and after 80 days were 20% less fat than mice that received empty capsules. The cells are thought to cause this change by releasing signals known as thermogenic factors through pores in the capsules into the surrounding unhealthy body fat.

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SpaceX craft on way to ISS in first supply run

WASHINGTON: SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off on Sunday, launching the cargo-laden Dragon capsule into orbit en route to the International Space Station for NASA's first privately-run supply mission.

The engine fires blazed a bright trail across the night sky over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida -- the site of many launches into space -- after the on-time liftoff at 8:35 pm (0035 GMT).

Ten minutes later, Dragon separated from the second stage of the rocket and reached orbit, where it spread its two wing-like solar antennas.

"It's a great evening. Dragon was inserted into a picture perfect orbit. Its solar rays deployed and it's driving its way to station," SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell told reporters after the launch.

"That's just awesome."

She later noted that there was "an anomaly on engine one," though she said she did yet not have further details, adding that the equipment was designed to overcome engine loss, and that it did not create any problems for positioning the capsule.

"We're operational," she said, responding to a question, "doesn't mean we're not going to stop learning and ensuring that these vehicles are as reliable as we can possibly make them."

The mission -- the first of 12 planned trips in the US firm's $1.6 billion contract with NASA -- is a milestone for American efforts to privatize the space industry, in hopes of reducing costs and spreading them among a wider group than governments alone.

"We're handing off to the private sector our transportation to the International Space Station so that NASA can focus on what we do best: exploring even deeper into our solar system with missions to an asteroid and Mars on the horizon," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said at a press conference.

"This is what I call a historic event in the annals of spaceflight," the NASA leader said.

"This was not something that NASA prepared, built, bought or did anything. SpaceX as a private company and our partner produced what you saw tonight. That's American industry at its best," he added.

The capsule, loaded with 882 pounds (400 kilograms) of supplies, is set to reach the ISS on Wednesday, where it will dock with the help of the orbiting outpost's robotic arm and two of the station's six crewmembers.

The craft will then spend 18 days there before splashing back down off the coast of southern California on October 28, carrying about 1,673 pounds of supplies, hardware and scientific tests and results.

SpaceX's craft is the only one currently in operation that can bring cargo back to Earth.

The company, owned by billionaire Paypal co-founder Elon Musk, is one of several private firms working with the US space agency to send flights to and from the ISS.

NASA has been relying on Russian spacecraft for the last year, after retiring its fleet of shuttles -- but the Soyuz craft does not have room for cargo on the return flight.

The successful launch on Sunday signalled SpaceX and its equipment are getting a handle on the trip into orbit, according to aerospace consultant Jeff Foust, editor of The Space Review.

"I think this is the first time the Falcon 9 has launched on the very first attempt," Foust said, recalling that one launch attempt for a previous mission in May had to abort just as it was meant to take off.

"Clearly they're getting a more mature system there that is working very well," he told AFP from Cape Canaveral, where he observed the launch.

SpaceX's May mission -- a nearly flawless nine-day test flight to deliver cargo to the $100 billion orbiting station -- marked the first time a commercial outfit had sent its own capsule there and back.

SpaceX says it has 50 launches planned -- both NASA missions and commercial flights -- representing about $4 billion in contracts.

So far, SpaceX has only sent unmanned flights into orbit, but the company aims to send a manned flight within the next three or four years. It is under a separate contract with NASA to refine the capsule so that it can carry a crew.

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SpaceX rocket blasts off for space station

CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida): An unmanned, privately owned Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday on a mission to restore a U.S. supply line to the International Space Station after the retirement of the space shuttle.

Powered by nine oxygen and kerosene-burning engines, the 157-foot (48-meter) tall rocket, built by Space Exploration Technologies, lifted off from its seaside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8:35 p.m. EDT.

"This was a critical event for NASA and the nation tonight," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "Just over a year after the retirement of the space shuttle, we have returned space station cargo-resupply missions to U.S. soil."

The Falcon booster, flying for the fourth time, streaked through balmy, partly cloudy skies as it headed east over the Atlantic Ocean toward the station's orbit, some 250 miles above Earth.

Despite a problem with one engine during the 10-minute climb to orbit, the capsule was delivered exactly where it was intended to go, company president Gwynne Shotwell told reporters.

"Falcon 9 was designed to lose engines and still make missions, so it did what it was supposed to do," Shotwell said. "We will learn from our flights and continue to improve the vehicle."

The capsule is scheduled to reach the $100-billion space station - a project of 15 nations - on Wednesday.

The company, also known as SpaceX, made a successful practice run to the station in May, clearing the way for it to begin working off a $1.6 billion, 12-flight contract to deliver cargo for NASA.

The Dragon cargo capsule carries about 882 pounds (400 kg) of food, clothing, science experiments and supplies for the station. The gear includes a freezer to transport medical samples and a rare treat for the station crew - chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream.

With the retirement of the space shuttles last year, NASA turned to the private sector to develop and fly freight to the station and is looking to do the same for crew transportation.

"Every time they have a successful mission, that gives the non-believers one more opportunity to get onboard and root for us and help us make this thing happen," Bolden said.

Unlike the Russian, European and Japanese freighters that service the station, Dragon is designed to return to Earth intact, rather than burn up in the atmosphere, so it can bring back research and equipment from the station. That return capability has been missing since the shuttle's retirement.

Dragon is scheduled to depart the station on October 28 and to splash down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

SpaceX has a separate NASA contract to upgrade its Dragon capsule to carry humans as well. Boeing and privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp also have NASA backing for space taxi design work.

In addition to SpaceX, NASA has also hired Orbital Sciences Corp to fly cargo to the station. Orbital's Antares rocket is expected to make a debut flight later this year.

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Till death, or 20 years, do us part

It makes little sense to explore a new era of family values based around Hollywood couplings. Or, worse yet, around mere rumours of the way movie stars conduct their marital affairs. But might there be seeds of something worth considering in one such rumour, that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes signed a five year marriage contract?

It's a dim data point but not an isolated one, suggesting people are rethinking marriage, at least around the edges. Prenuptial agreements, a different sort of contract, are on the rise, as is vowless cohabitation. The ages at which people marry have hit record highs, 28.7 years for men and 26.5 for women. And gay marriage has provoked widespread conversation about the institution's meaning and place.

Last year, several lawmakers in Mexico City proposed the creation of short-term , renewable marriage contracts with terms as brief as two years. The idea was to own up to the reality that marriages fail about half the time.

Is marriage headed for an overhaul? A fundamental rethinking ? Is it due for one?

When the Mexican legislators proposed their idea, which was not passed, the archdiocese there called it "absurd" and said it was anathema to the nature of marriage . I decided to put the questions to a different group: the people who study marriage and divorce .

I asked whether society should consider something like a 20-year marriage contract, my own modest proposal that, as in the one from Mexico, acknowledges the harsh truth that nearly half of marriages in the United States end in divorce and many others are miserable. The rough idea: two people, two decades, enough time to have and raise children if that's your thing; a new status quo, a ceremony with a shelf life, till awhile do us part.

But despite having proposed it, whimsically, as a journalistic expedition, I found myself surprised and even unnerved by the extent to which some experts I spoke with say there is a need to rethink an institution that so often fails.

"We're remarkably not innovative about marriage even though almost all the environmental conditions have changed," said Pepper Schwartz, a sociology professor at the University of Washington and author of books on love, sex and marriage. "We haven't scrutinised it."

The kinds of things that are changing: we're living longer; we live apart from families and are less inclined to religion, both marriage support systems; technology makes it easier than ever flirt or cheat and fuels instant gratification.

Over all, divorce rates have ticked down over the last 20 years, but just slightly. There is a growing marriage gap that mirrors the income gap, with people who are more educated and marry later in life more likely to stay married than less-educated people who marry earlier. And growing numbers of older people are getting divorced; a Bowling Green State University study found that the divorce rate for people 50 to 64 has doubled since 1990, and tripled for those 65 and above.

Dr. Schwartz said that gay marriage had become a tipping point to rethink marriage because it simply opened questions most people have been terrified to broach: Is there any other way to do this? Will doing so change the world?

Maybe, she said, for the better . As to my suggestion of a 20-year contract, she countered that people could do contracts of any number of years, adding: "It's back to the past, which used to involve dowry, bride price, economic arrangement. Nobody pretended this was not an economic arrangement." The idea of contracts "isn't new."

But, she said, "it's newly arrived at after a period of extreme romanticism."

Kenneth P. Altshuler, the president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the divorce-attorney trade group, said such contracts were neither so absurd nor impractical as they might sound. He thinks they could address some of the financial costs associated with divorce.

One key, he said, would be figuring out a formula for predetermining alimony, given the extent to which money becomes a proxy for bitterness during divorce . That could be solved, he said, through tables that show what payments each spouse would make based on his or her eventual income in Year 20.

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'God particle' discovery poses Nobel dilemma

PARIS: On July 4, scientists announced they had discovered a new particle that may be the fabled Higgs boson, an exploit that would rank as the greatest achievement in physics in more than half a century.

But they also created a headache for the jury that will decide next Tuesday's Nobel Prize for Physics.

Historic though it is, does the announcement deserve the award?

And if so, who should get it?

The breakthrough at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) touches on the agonising quest to find the "God particle," so called for being everywhere and elusive at the same time.

Named after British physicist Peter Higgs, the boson is a key to our concept of matter, as it could explain why particles have mass. Without the Higgs, the Universe as we know it would simply not exist, according to the theory.

"This is the physics version of the discovery of DNA," says Peter Knight, president of Britain's Institute of Physics.

But whether the July 4 fireworks will unlock the great prize is unclear.

"It's a big discovery. That's all I'm going to say," Lars Brink, a member of the Nobel committee for physics, told AFP.

Some Nobel-watchers are cautious, given that the new particle has not yet been officially sealed as the Higgs.

Scientists are almost certain it is the coveted beast, for they found it at a range of mass that fits with their calculations.

Yet they still need to confirm this, which means further work to see how it behaves and reacts with other particles. Indeed, there is a remote possibility that the new particle is not the Higgs, although this would be an even more groundshaking announcement.

As Higgs himself readily admits, vital contributions to the theoretical groundwork were made by others.

In fact, six physicists, each building on the work of others, published a flurry of papers on aspects of the theory within four months of each other back in 1964.

The first were Belgians Robert Brout, who died last year, and Francois Englert.

This was followed by Higgs, who was the first to say only a new particle would explain the anomalies of mass.

Then came a trio of Americans Dick Hagen and Gerry Guralnik and Briton Tom Kibble.

A further complication is that thousands of physicists worked in the two labs at CERN's Large Hadron Collider near Geneva where Higgs experiments were conducted independently of each other.

So the question is whether the jury considers July's announcement to be sufficient even if the boson's Higgsishness remains unconfirmed.

Then it must decide whether theoreticians or experimentalists -- or both -- should get the glory.

At most three names, although they can include organisations, can share a Nobel, but the prize cannot be given posthumously.

The Nobel will "eventually" go to the Higgs, "but not this year, as the evidence has come rather late, and it is not yet certain that the newly-discovered particle is in fact a Higgs boson," predicted John Ellis, professor of theoretical physics at King's College London and a researcher at CERN.

Etienne Klein, a physicist at France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), said the boson was a shoo-in for a Nobel.

He urged the jury to "take a gamble" and award it jointly to Higgs, Englert and CERN.

"You must also note that Higgs is not in the bloom of youth" -- he is 83 -- "and this may be a form of age-related pressure which would help," said Klein.

Pierre Marage, vice rector of academic policies and research at the Free University of Brussels, where Brout and Englert carried out their work, said a Brout-Higgs award was best.

And a spot for CERN?

"There's nothing stopping us from giving the prize to an organisation. But it has not been the custom in the scientific prizes," said Lars Bergstroem, secretary of the committee for the Nobel physics prize.

"The Nobel Peace Prize has often been awarded to organisations. But in the science prizes we have tried to find the most prizeworthy individuals."

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Microwave ovens can be used for solar energy

More than 60 per cent of the energy produced by cars, machines, and industry around the world is lost as waste heat - an age-old problem - but researchers have found a new way to make "thermoelectric" materials for use in tech that could potentially save lots of energy.

MUMBAI: The same type of microwave oven technology that most people use to heat up leftover food has found an important application in the solar energy industry, providing a new way to make thin-film photovoltaic products with less energy, expense and environmental concerns.

Engineers at Oregon State University have for the first time developed a way to use microwave heating in the synthesis of copper zinc tin sulphide, a promising solar cell compound that is less costly and toxic than some solar energy alternatives. The findings were published in Physica Status Solidi A, a professional journal.

""All of the elements used in this new compound are benign and inexpensive, and should have good solar cell performance,"" said Greg Herman, an associate professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering at OSU.

""Several companies are already moving in this direction as prices continue to rise for some alternative compounds that contain more expensive elements like indium,"" he said. ""With some improvements in its solar efficiency this new compound should become very commercially attractive.""

These thin-film photovoltaic technologies offer a low cost, high volume approach to manufacturing solar cells. A new approach is to create them as an ink composed of nanoparticles, which could be rolled or sprayed -- by approaches such as old-fashioned inkjet printing -- to create solar cells.

To further streamline that process, researchers have now succeeded in using microwave heating, instead of conventional heating, to reduce reaction times to minutes or seconds, and allow for great control over the production process. This ""one-pot"" synthesis is fast, cheap and uses less energy, researchers say, and has been utilized to successfully create nanoparticle inks that were used to fabricate a photovoltaic device.

""This approach should save money, work well and be easier to scale up at commercial levels, compared to traditional synthetic methods,"" Herman said.

""Microwave technology offers more precise control over heat and energy to achieve the desired reactions.""

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Pijit Menimbulkan Rasa Nyaman Rilek

Pijit Menimbulkan Rasa Nyaman Rilek Mungkin lebih banyak orang yang suka dipijat daripada tidak. Bagi yang suka, dipijat setiap minggu di tempat yang bersih dan nyaman benar-benar membuat rileks. Ada yang suka dengan teknik urut menggunakan massage oil, ada pula yang suka pijat "enak" alias tidak terlalu sakit. Di lain pihak, banyak pula yang tidak suka dipijat karena geli atau tidak tahan sakit.

Orang yang rutin melakukan pijatan biasanya menginginkan teknik pijatan harus benar-benar menyentuh otot yang meregang akibat terlalu letih bekerja. Misalnya, berkonsentrasi pada pundak, leher, atau kaki. Rasa sakit yang ditimbulkan rasanya menjadi pertanda bahwa otot-otot yang semula tumpang-tindih menjadi teratur sesuai jalurnya kembali. Ketika keluar dari tempat pijat, tubuh terasa ringan.

Namun keesokan hari, biasanya Anda justru baru merasakan efek dari pijatan ekstra keras sehari sebelumnya. Bagian tubuh yang dipijat terasa babak-belur. Batang kayu yang semula seperti dipasang di pundak memang telah hilang, sebagai gantinya Anda merasa seperti baru dipukuli preman.

Yang menjadi pertanyaan sekarang, mengapa sehabis dipijat tubuh malah terasa sakit?

Intensitas. Beberapa jenis pemijatan dapat disamakan dengan berolahraga. Misalnya pemijatan otot dan shiatsu. Pijatan sering melibatkan manipulasi otot secara ekstensif yang lalu diterjemahkan sebagai rasa sakit, karena tubuh tidak terbiasa terhadap manipulasi ini. Thai Massage adalah contoh lain pemijatan yang melibatkan pelenturan dan peregangan otot. Jika Anda mengalami ketegangan otot, maka Anda juga akan merasa sakit usai dipijat.

Detox. Sebagian teknik pijat yang lain bersifat melepaskan racun dari otot. Hal ini pun akan mengakibatkan kesakitan karena tubuh sedang berusaha untuk melepaskan racun ini. Sebaiknya Anda minum banyak air putih sebelum dan sesudah dipijat untuk membersihkan tubuh dari racun dengan lebih cepat.

Jika Anda menginginkan teknik pemijatan yang tidak terlalu intens, Anda bisa mencoba Swedish Massage atau Lomi Lomi. Lomi Lomi adalah teknik pijat dari Hawaii di mana terapis akan meminta Anda untuk berdoa sebelum dipijat untuk memperoleh keseimbangan. Sedangkan pada Swedish Massage, terapi menggunakan sejumlah tekanan (secara superfisial) untuk mencapai otot seperti getaran, tepukan, remasan, usapan, dan gesekan, untuk melemaskan otot dan melancarkan peredaran darah.

Untuk mengurangi rasa sakit seusai dipijat, Anda bisa mandi dengan air panas atau melakukan sauna. Hal ini akan menjaga agar otot tetap rileks, dan mengeluarkan racun melalui keringat yang dihasilkan saat sauna Pijit Menimbulkan Rasa Nyaman Rilek.

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