CHICAGO - When it comes to saving lives, God trumps doctors for many Americans.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-med-godvsdoctors,0,575094.story


An eye-opening survey reveals widespread belief that divine intervention can revive dying patients. And, researchers said, doctors "need to be prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle."

More than half of randomly surveyed adults - 57 percent - said God's intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared treatment would be futile. And nearly three-quarters said patients have a right to demand such treatment.

When asked to imagine their own relatives being gravely ill or injured, nearly 20 percent of doctors and other medical workers said God could reverse a hopeless outcome.

"Sensitivity to this belief will promote development of a trusting relationship" with patients and their families, according to researchers. That trust, they said, is needed to help doctors explain objective, overwhelming scientific evidence showing that continued treatment would be worthless.

Pat Loder, a Milford, Mich., woman whose two young children were killed in a 1991 car crash, said she clung to a belief that God would intervene when things looked hopeless.

"When you're a parent and you're standing over the body of your child who you think is dying ... you have to have that" belief, Loder said.

While doctors should be prepared to deal with those beliefs, they also shouldn't "sugarcoat" the truth about a patient's condition, Loder said.

Being honest in a sensitive way helps family members make excruciating decisions about whether to let dying patients linger, or allow doctors to turn off life-prolonging equipment so that organs can be donated, Loder said.

Loder was driving when a speeding motorcycle slammed into the family's car. Both children were rushed unconscious to hospitals, and Loder says she believes doctors did everything they could. They were not able to revive her 5-year-old son; soon after her 8-year-old daughter was declared brain dead.

She said her beliefs about divine intervention have changed.

"I have become more of a realist," she said. "I know that none of us are immune from anything."

Loder was not involved in the survey, which appears in Monday's Archives of Surgery.

It involved 1,000 U.S. adults randomly selected to answer questions by telephone about their views on end-of-life medical care. They were surveyed in 2005, along with 774 doctors, nurses and other medical workers who responded to mailed questions.

Survey questions mostly dealt with untimely deaths from trauma such as accidents and violence. These deaths are often particularly tough on relatives because they are more unexpected than deaths from lingering illnesses such as cancer, and the patients tend to be younger.

Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, a University of Connecticut surgery professor and trauma chief at Hartford Hospital, was the lead author.

He said trauma treatment advances have allowed patients who previously would have died at the scene to survive longer. That shift means hospital trauma specialists "are much more heavily engaged in the death process," he said.

Jacobs said he frequently meets people who think God will save their dying loved one and who want medical procedures to continue.

"You can't say, 'That's nonsense.' You have to respect that" and try to show them X-rays, CAT scans and other medical evidence indicating death is imminent, he said.

Relatives need to know that "it's not that you don't want a miracle to happen, it's just that is not going to happen today with this patient," he said.

Families occasionally persist and hospitals have gone to court seeking to stop medical treatment doctors believe is futile, but such cases are quite rare.

Dr. Michael Sise, trauma medical director at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, called the study "a great contribution" to one of the most intense issues doctors face.

Sise, a Catholic doctor working in a Catholic hospital, said miracles don't happen when medical evidence shows death is near.

"That's just not a realistic situation," he said.

Sise recalled a teenager severely injured in a gang beating who died soon afterward at his hospital.

The mother "absolutely did not want to withdraw" medical equipment despite the severity of her child's brain injuries, which ensured the child would never wake up, Sise said. "The mom was playing religious tapes in the room, and obviously was very focused on looking for a miracle."

Claudia McCormick, a nurse and trauma program director at Duke University Hospital, said she also has never seen that kind of miracle. But her niece's recovery after being hit by a boat while inner-tubing earlier this year came close.

The boat backed into her and its propeller "caught her in the side of the head. She had no pulse when they pulled her out of the water," McCormick said.

Doctors at the hospital where she was airlifted said "it really doesn't look good." And while it never reached the point where withdrawing lifesaving equipment was discussed, McCormick recalled one of her doctors saying later: '"God has plans for this child. I never thought she'd be here.'"

Like many hospitals, Duke uses a team approach to help relatives deal with dying trauma victims, enlisting social workers, grief counselors and chaplains to work with doctors and nurses.

If the family still says, "We just can't shut that machine off, then, you know what, we can't shut that machine off," McCormick said.

"Sometimes," she said, "you might have a family that's having a hard time and it might take another day, and that's OK."

---

By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer

Darwin's bulldogs Natural selection is a philosophy of beauty and imagination

From The Times
August 8, 2008


Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin
and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his On The Origin of
Species. The Natural History Museum and the BBC plan extensive
education programmes. Anticipating the anniversaries, Professor
Richard Dawkins is presenting a series on Channel 4. These are welcome
ventures. On the evidence of its first episode, Professor Dawkins's
exposition of Darwinism will be an important public resource.

Darwin founded a branch of learning that has remarkable explanatory
power and also grandeur. That the mechanism of evolution is natural
selection is one of the great discoveries of science, with
implications far beyond evolutionary biology. As Ernst Mayr, the
biologist, wrote: "No educated person any longer questions the
validity of the so-called theory of evolution, which we now know to be
a simple fact."

It is an unfortunate wonder of the modern age that people who are
highly educated in some areas may still be resistant to scientific
inquiry. We customarily think of objectors to Darwinism as Protestant
fundamentalists. There is in fact a worrying trend for Muslim children
to be taught the myths of creation, and the pseudoscience of
"intelligent design", as an explanation of the origins of life.

Myths have beauty and narrative power. But their place is in art and
literature, not science. The ideas of Darwin are also a venture of
beauty and the imagination. And they have the merit of being confirmed
by mountains of empirical data. Darwin's modern expositors have a
difficult task but a noble calling. They merit an enthusiastic hearing
and gratitude.

NASA: Mars is good habitat for Terry Pratchett dragons

That's the gist, anyway
By Lewis Page → More by this author
Published Wednesday 6th August 2008 09:33 GMT
Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, September 24 2008.

In a development which may untwist a few knickers around the internet, NASA scientists have now explained just what their Phoenix robot lander has found in the soil of Mars - and what the implications are for possible discovery of life on the Red Planet.

Following news that the White House had received secret briefings in advance of any public announcement, internet speculation was rife. Some believed that life - or anyway hospitable conditions for it - had been found. Others said that no, in fact proof positive had been found that Mars could not harbour life, perhaps casting doubt on the value of President Bush's ambitious plans to send a manned mission there.

The truth is somewhat more mundane, according to NASA. Some unusual chemicals, normally seen as poisonous, have been found in the Martian soil at the lander's location. However, according to the NASA boffins, the presence of these perchlorates doesn't mean that life can't exist on Mars.

"Finding perchlorates is neither good nor bad for life, but it does make us reassess how we think about life on Mars," said Michael Hecht from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory - in charge of one of the Phoenix's main dirt-sniffing instruments.

NASA says:

Perchlorates are found naturally on Earth at such places as Chile's hyper-arid Atacama Desert. The compounds are quite stable and do not destroy organic material under normal circumstances. Some microorganisms on Earth are fueled by processes that involve perchlorates, and some plants concentrate the substance. Perchlorates are also used in rocket fuel and fireworks.

So, if we're following this correctly*, there could possibly be Martian animals with perchlorate-fuelled metabolisms, living off perchlorate-concentrating plants. Though there would be a significant risk of these creatures catching fire or exploding if upset - not unlike Terry Pratchett's Discworld dragons, in fact.

On the other hand, you do get the vibe that NASA would really rather not have found perchlorates - indeed would have infinitely preferred it if a little green man had walked up and peered into Phoenix's cameras by now.

Old ships' logs show temporary global warming in 1730s

Records interrupted only by looting of treasure galleons
By Lewis Page → More by this author
Published Monday 4th August 2008 13:06 GMT
Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, September 24 2008.

A climate prof noted for data mining of archived ships' logs has produced further insights into global warming. Dr Dennis Wheeler of Sunderland Uni says his latest analysis shows sudden warming of the North Atlantic and Europe - much like that seen in recent times - during the 1730s.

This, Wheeler believes, shows that widespread rises in temperature of the kind recorded lately can be caused naturally. He thinks that human-caused carbon emissions are contributing to climate change now, but says it is unwise to link human emissions to specific events unless evidence is very strong.

“Global warming is a reality, but what our data shows is that climate science is complex and that it is wrong to take particular events and link them to CO2 emissions," Wheeler told the Times at the weekend.

Wheeler's new 1730s temperature spike info comes from trawling through mountains of archived ship's logs. Royal Navy logbooks have been particularly valuable, both for this project and previous ones.

“British archives contain more than 100,000 Royal Navy logbooks from around 1670 to 1850 alone," says Wheeler. "They are a stunning resource.”

The new research, compiled by Wheeler and colleagues from the Met Office and other institutions, is to be published in the journal Climatic Change. The paper has already gained a good deal of ink in the UK media, generally referencing Admiral Nelson and Captain Cook for their zeal in keeping accurate records.

As neither Cook nor Nelson were at sea during the 1730s, this seems a bit unreasonable. Perhaps the most famous British naval officer active at the time was Captain (later Admiral) George Anson. Anson subsequently became a naval legend after his epic voyage round the world from 1740-44, during which he and his crew captured a Spanish treasure galleon in the Pacific - making the survivors who eventually got home to England rich men. Later, as an admiral, Anson also handed the French a massive kicking at Cape Finisterre and then became First Sea Lord - the head of the Navy.

During the 1730s - the period where Wheeler's sudden warming occurs - Captain Anson was at sea in the Atlantic, so it's likely that his logs form part of Wheeler's data set. However, it wasn't normal for warships to carry thermometers at the time, so much of the analysis draws on winds and the "consistent language" used by sea officers of the time, as well as European shore-based records. ®

Vederstaarttoepaja is elke dag dronken

Verwant van primaten houdt van nectar met 3,8 procent alcohol
Gepubliceerd: 31 juli 2008 15:25 | Gewijzigd: 31 juli 2008 15:37
Door onze redacteur Hester van Santen
De vederstaarttoepaja, drinkt regelmatig nectar zo sterk als bier. Biologen hopen dat onderzoek aan het beestje kan helpen om de alcoholzucht van de mens te verklaren.
De toepaja is een chronisch alcoholgebruiker. Foto PNAS
De toepaja is een chronisch alcoholgebruiker.
Foto PNAS

Rotterdam, 31 juli. Een zoogdiertje in Maleisië laaft zich elke nacht aan een bloem waarvan de nectar zó alcoholisch is, dat de plant naar een brouwerij ruikt. Het is goed mogelijk dat het beestje, de vederstaarttoepaja, zo veel drinkt dat hij naar menselijke maatstaven niet meer achter het stuur zou mogen zitten.

Het wetenschappelijke tijdschrift Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publiceerde deze week een studie naar het beest. Het is de eerste keer dat van een zoogdier nauwkeurig is vastgesteld dat het van nature leeft op een alcoholhoudend dieet. En dat is relevant, vindt de Duitse onderzoeker Frank Wiens. „Nu hebben we naast de mens nog een dier dat van nature regelmatig drinkt.”

Dat dieren dronken worden als ze maar genoeg bier of wijn wordt voorgezet, hebben biologen altijd met enthousiasme opgeschreven. Het was een van de observaties waarmee Charles Darwin zijn The Descent of Man (1871) begon. Een van zijn argumenten dat mensen nauw verwant zijn aan apen, was dat zij van dezelfde stoffen in een roes raken. „Veel apensoorten hebben een sterke voorkeur voor thee, koffie, en alcoholische dranken: en, zoals ik zelf gezien heb, roken ze ook graag tabak.”

Er is in de natuur niet veel alcohol aanwezig. Als rijp fruit gist, bevat het vaak minder dan 0,5 procent alcohol. Een leven met alcohol is voorbehouden aan enkele diersoorten die veel fruit eten. Fruitvliegen consumeren regelmatig alcohol, en ook fruit etende vleermuizen staan in de belangstelling. Dat olifanten dronken worden door fruit van de marula (een boom), is door biologen als een broodje aap afgedaan.

De vederstaarttoepaja (Ptilocercus lowii) schaart zich nu ook onder de schaarse alcoholconsumenten. Tijdens veldwerk in het Maleisische regenwoud naar de voedselvoorkeur van toepaja’s en lori’s (halfapen) ontdekten Duitse biologen van de Universiteit van Bayreuth dat deze en andere kleine zoogdieren vaak afkwamen op een palm waarvan de bloemen flink naar gist roken.

De toepaja’s werden verder onderzocht. De Duitsers filmden bloeiende palmen, voorzagen de dieren van een zender, en analyseerden de nectar en de haren van de beesten. De toepaja’s bleken dagelijks meer dan tien planten te bezoeken en vertoonden sporen van chronisch alcoholgebruik. De bloem herbergt gistcultures die alcohol produceren. Het alcoholpercentage van de nectar lag rond de 0,5 procent maar werd in uitzonderlijke gevallen opgedreven tot 3,8 procent. Dat is zo sterk als bier. De toepaja’s leken niet onder de alcohol te lijden. De palm heeft baat bij het bezoek, want rondscharrelende zoogdieren zorgen voor de bevruchting.

De Duitse onderzoekers benadrukken dat de toepaja zo interessant is omdat het dier verwant is aan de primaten. „Het laat zien dat er al 55 miljoen jaar geleden blootstelling aan alcohol was”, zegt Wiens aan de telefoon.

Maar over de precieze plek van de toepaja’s in de zoogdierstamboom is het laatste woord nog niet gesproken, en de relatie tussen toepaja en palm is niet uniek. Ook ratten en eekhoorns bezochten de bloemen.

Hoe gaat de toepaja om met de alcohol en wat heeft hij eraan? Dat vraagstuk interesseert biologen die willen verklaren waarom mensen tot alcoholisme geneigd zijn. Wiens: „Er zijn veel voordelen te bedenken. Suiker, vitaminen, sporenelementen, insecten op de bloemen.” Misschien is de alcohol zelf voordelig voor de dieren. Maar dat zal moeten blijken.

Proost!

'Zacht weefsel' dinobot blijkt vervuiling

door René Fransen Nederland Dagblad
In 2005 werd 'zacht weefsel' aangetroffen in dinobotten. Volgens creationisten een bewijs tegen de evolutie. Maar het 'zachte weefsel' blijkt een bacteriële vervuiling. SEATTLE - De vondst van zacht weefsel in fossiele botten van een Tyrannosaurus rex was in 2005 groot nieuws. De botten waren naar schatting 68 miljoen jaar oud en het was de vraag hoe het zachte weefsel al die tijd intact kon blijven. Creationisten stelden dat het zachte weefsel een bewijs was dat de fossielen nooit miljoenen jaren oud konden zijn.

Gisteren publiceerden Amerikaanse onderzoekers in het internettijdschrift PLoS ONE dat het niet gaat om echt dinosaurusweefsel, maar om vervuiling door bacteriën. Die hebben zich in de holle botten gevestigd en daar een 'biofilm' afgezet, een plakkerige laag die veel bacteriën voor hun eigen bescherming aanleggen. Bekende voorbeelden zijn tandplak en de glibberige laag die na een tijdje in een emmer water ontstaat.

De onderzoekers van Washington University in Seattle schrijven dat het zachte weefsel oorspronkelijk gevonden zijn door het bot eerst op te lossen in zuur. Het zachte weefsel bleef dan achter. In het nieuwe onderzoek zijn eerst met behulp van een elektronenmicroscoop opnamen gemaakt van fossiele botten uit van verschillende diersoorten en uit verschillende aardlagen. Daarbij vonden ze structuren in het bot aan, die hier en daar loslieten. Die kwamen overeen met wat de onderzoekers verwachten van een biofilm.

In 2007 meldden onderzoekers dat zij fragmenten van het eiwit collageen (bindweefsel) in het fossiele 'zachte weefsel' hadden gevonden. Maar volgens het team van Kaye kan collageen ook door bacteriën worden aangemaakt. Datering met behulp van de koolstof-14 methode liet ten slotte zien dat het zachte materiaal in de fossielen vermoedelijk zo'n vijftig jaar oud was.


Zo zie je maar dat creationisten zich vastklampen aan elke strohalm die ze kunnen vinden. Telkens blijken hun weerleggingen van de evolutietheorie geen hout te snijden.

Orangutans concoct plant-based soothing balm

Great apes show medicinal savvy
By Lester Haines → More by this author
Published Monday 28th July 2008 14:17 GMT
Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, September 24 2008.

Indonesian wild orangutans have demonstrated a certain degree of medicinal savvy by deploying naturally-occuring anti-inflammatory drugs to "treat aches and pains", as the New Scientist puts it.

Four of the Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) were spotted by Cambridge University primatologist Helen Morrogh-Bernard in the Sabangau Peat Swamp Forest in Central Kalimantan preparing a "soothing balm".

Back in 2005, Morrogh-Bernard watched as an adult female picked a handful of leaves from a plant, chewed them, and used saliva to produce a green-white lather. She then "scooped up some of the lather with her right hand and applied it up and down the back of her left arm, from the base of the shoulder to the wrist, just as a person would apply sunscreen".

Morrogh-Bernard noted: "She was concentrating on her arm only and was methodical in the way she was applying the soapy foam. I knew this must be some form of self-medication."

The orangutan finally ditched the leaves, which allowed Morrogh-Bernard to identify them as belonging to the genus Commelina. Significantly, orangutans don't eat these plants as part of their normal diet, and local indigenous people are also aware of their anti-inflammatory properties.

Morrogh-Bernard has since clocked three other orangutans using their home-brew balm, saying it "links apes and humans directly". While she said the former "may not have learnt how to apply the anti-inflammatory ointment from local people", the opposite may be true.

Morrogh-Bernard's findings are published in the International Journal of Primatology. ®

Children hardwired for empathy, say brain researchers

Last Updated: Friday, July 11, 2008 | 12:13 AM ET Comments13Recommend20
CBC News

Children aged seven to 12 appear naturally inclined to feel empathy for others in pain, suggests a recent brain scan study.

University of Chicago researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine responses in children to animated photos of people experiencing pain, either inflicted accidentally or intentionally.

Previous MRI scans of adults show that the regions of the brain that process first-hand experience of pain light up when shown each type of photo. In addition, scans show activity in areas of the brain linked to social interaction and moral reasoning when adults see images of someone intentionally hurting another person.

But since there have been no MRI studies of children's developing brains, it was unknown whether the same two areas would light up.

The researchers reasoned that if those areas did in fact show activity —especially those areas linked to social interaction and moral reasoning — it would suggest children are born empathetic and that it is not entirely due to their upbringing.

Researchers showed 17 children animated photos of people in pain. The group included nine girls and eight boys.

The images of non-intentional pain showed a person accidentally dropping a heavy bowl on their hand. Images of deliberately caused pain showed a person purposely stepping on another's toe.

The study, published in the journal Neuropsychologia on Friday, showed that when the children saw animations of someone who was either accidentally or purposefully hurt, the parts of their brain that process first-hand experience of pain lit up, just as they did in adults.

More importantly, when shown photos of people intentionally hurt, the children's brains showed activity in those areas engaged in social interaction and moral reasoning.

"It is thus worth emphasizing that the regions selectively associated with the perception of an agent harming the other belong to the neural systems underlying moral thinking," wrote lead author Jean Decety.

"Although our study did not tap into explicit moral judgment, perceiving an individual intentionally harming another person is likely to elicit the awareness of moral wrongdoing in the observer."

Subsequent interviews with the children showed they were in fact aware of wrongdoing in the photos.

"Thirteen of the children thought that the situations were unfair, and they asked about the reason that could explain this behaviour," Decety said in a news release.

He concludes that programming for empathy is something that is "hardwired" into the brains of normal children, and not entirely the product of parental guidance or other nurturing.

Decety said he hopes other researchers can build on his study to help understand how brain impairments influence anti-social behavior, such as bullying.

Scientists ponder future Moon mission activities

One of these days, Alice...
By Austin Modine in Mountain View, California, Earth → More by this author
Published Monday 21st July 2008 22:35 GMT
Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, September 24 2008.

A clever fellow once observed that the Moon is a harsh mistress. Humanity's subsequent jaunts up to the place indicated it was a pretty solid hypothesis. The Ritz-Carlton it is not.

Now NASA has the vision of not only returning astronauts back to the orbital dustball in 2020, but establishing a long-term moon base there. Needless to say, there's plenty of arrangements to be made before the moonbuggy pulls into 555 South Pole-Aitken Basin Avenue.

That's why nearly 500 scientists and amateur lunar lovers from gave gathered for an Earth-side conference this week at NASA/Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. The first annual Lunar Science Conference aims to discuss what kind of science should be done for our species' return to the moon.

"This is going to open a new era of scientific understanding," said NASA/AMES Director Simon 'Pete' Worden at the conference opening. "We will learn how we can live on another world."

The conference is organized by the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), a fledgling NASA-funded organization made to supplement and extend existing lunar science programs.

NLSI is modeled on the successful NASA Astrobiology Institute, meaning it's a partnership between the US space department and other independent research organizations across the nation working together to help lead research activities.

The institute plans to initially fund about seven competitively selected team investigations in October that will focus on one or more aspects of lunar science. According to Dave Morrison, NLSI interim director, the teams will initially receive between $1m to $2m budgets per year.

"NASA doesn't guarantee funding," warned Morrison. "But we anticipate the same level for four years."

The organization will specialize in utilizing data rather than building the instruments to probe the moon. "We are going to focus on research and the training aspect," said Morrison. It also plans to be the rallying banner for public interest in future moon missions.

While scientists get excited over things like extraterrestrial botanics, applications of lunar dust, and protecting humanity from meteor impacts this week, it's also a celebration of the 39th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

"We're going back, and this time we're going to stay," said Worden. "This will begin the next step of settling the solar system." ®

Simpsons; creationism vs evolution

simpsons creationism vs evolution
Geüpload door PigLips

Hoax theory pushes limits of believability

Posted on Thu, Jul. 17, 2008
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BY FRED GRIMM
fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com
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A hoax. A scam. ''Grossly exaggerated.'' A conspiracy cooked up by dishonest researchers. ''Public hysteria'' stirred up by a lying media.

And then there's Al Gore.

Bill Gray, the famous old-school hurricane forecaster, has recast himself as the Don Quixote of weather guys on a lonely crusade against big media, Al Gore and climate scientists with their half-baked notions about global warming.

SCIENTISTS DISMISSED

The quarrelsome polemic he delivered at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science bristled with unkind portrayals of global warming believers. He dismissed an overwhelming consensus among the world's climate scientists as the product of mendacious researchers who know what they have to say to get a grant.

You want to believe. After all, Bill Gray's the kind of non-conformist we love here in the big media. Here's this tall, grandfatherly rebel taking pokes at the establishment. A 78-year-old fighter who uses tough language and personal insults. He's a journalist's dream.

Gray said the climate change ruckus reminded him of the tactics employed by Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. And he told the UM crowd that modern day McCarthyites in lab coats had blacklisted him. He said that ''after Al Gore became vice president,'' he couldn't get a grant. You want to believe. Although, Al Gore hasn't been vice president for more than seven years and the current administration has been famously hostile to global warming alarmists.

And for someone the scientific community and the media has tried to silence, Gray has garnered a hell of a lot of attention. He has testified before Congress and given variations of his talk: ''We Are Not in a Climate Crisis,'' across the country. With lots of press coverage. A Nexis search using the search terms ''William Gray and global warming'' turns up more than 1,000 articles. Gray, the outcast, has heroic status with the conservative press and think tanks.

And there he was Tuesday at UM, at an open forum organized by NOAA, railing once again about the conspiracy against truth.

DAUNTING LIST

You want to believe. Except the list of the world's climate scientists who've joined this supposed conspiracy has become quite daunting. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in May offered the strongest statement yet: claiming a 90 percent certainty that . . . well . . . that Bill Gray is just wrong about global warming.

Gray blames this stuff on computer modeling (where the grant money goes), which fails to account for all the complexities in the atmosphere. Gray, old school, a pioneer in hurricane science, has always relied on empirical evidence for his long-range forecasts. You'd like to believe. It's a modern version of John Henry versus the steam drill -- old scientist triumphs over the soulless computers. Though it would help if his empirical hurricane forecasts hadn't been so far off the last two years.

It would also help if Gray had published his theories in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

And you'd like to believe Gray mostly because if he's right, sea levels won't rise and our kids won't cook.

You want to believe this cantankerous old man -- no matter what all those other scientists say. We could go on burning fossil fuels until hell freezes over.

Clay minerals point to vast Martian lakes Water, water, everywhere

NASA's image of the Jerezo Crater shows that "ancient rivers ferried clay-like minerals (shown in green) into the lake, forming the delta":


By Lester Haines → More by this author
Published Thursday 17th July 2008 09:10 GMT
Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, September 24 2008.

A study published today in Nature indicates that large swathes of the ancient Martian highlands, comprising about half the planet, contain clay-like minerals which can only form in the presence of water, demonstrating that the Red Planet once hosted "vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life", as NASA puts it.

Said minerals, called phyllosilicates, were spied by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and other instruments aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They "preserve a record of the interaction of water with rocks dating back to what is called the Noachian period of Mars' history, approximately 4.6bn to 3.8bn years ago", and while they were buried by subsequent volcanic activity during drier periods, impact craters have exposed them to view.

John Mustard, a member of the CRISM team from Brown University, and lead author of the Nature study, explained: "The minerals present in Mars' ancient crust show a variety of wet environments. In most locations the rocks are lightly altered by liquid water, but in a few locations they have been so altered that a great deal of water must have flushed though the rocks and soil. This is really exciting because we're finding dozens of sites where future missions can land to understand if Mars was ever habitable and if so, to look for signs of past life."

The latest results back an earlier CRISM study published in the 2 June issue of Nature Geosciences which demonstrated that Mars was not awash with water, but that the liquid was present on the surface during some considerable time.

A close look at a northern-Mars impact basin called the Jezero Crater using the CRISM and High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment identified "three principal classes of water-related minerals dating to the early Noachian period", viz: aluminum-phyllosilicates; hydrated silica or opal; and the more common and widespread iron/magnesium-phyllosilicates. Significantly, the variations in the minerals "suggest that different processes, or different types of watery environments, created them".

NASA elaborates: "Thousands to millions of years after the clays formed, a system of river channels eroded them out of the highlands and concentrated them in a delta where the river emptied into a crater lake slightly larger than California's Lake Tahoe, approximately 25 miles in diameter."




Bethany Ehlmann, another member of the CRISM team from Brown and lead author of the Jerezo study, concluded: "The distribution of clays inside the ancient lakebed shows that standing water must have persisted for thousands of years. Clays are wonderful at trapping and preserving organic matter, so if life ever existed in this region, there's a chance of its chemistry being preserved in the delta." ®

Intelligent Design

Recreating the sound of Aztec 'Whistles of Death'

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly
find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay,
skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand.

But no one blew into the noisemakers for nearly 15 years. When someone
finally did, the shrill, windy screech made the spine tingle.

If death had a sound, this was it.

Roberto Velazquez believes the Aztecs played this mournful wail from
the so-called Whistles of Death before they were sacrificed to the gods.

The 66-year-old mechanical engineer has devoted his career to
recreating the sounds of his pre-Columbian ancestors, producing
hundreds of replicas of whistles, flutes and wind instruments
unearthed in Mexico's ruins.

For years, many archaeologists who uncovered ancient noisemakers
dismissed them as toys. Museums relegated them to warehouses. But
while most studies and exhibits of ancient cultures focus on how they
looked, Velazquez said the noisemakers provide a rare glimpse into how
they sounded. We've been looking at our ancient culture as if they
were deaf and mute," he said. "But I think all of this is tied closely
to what they did, how they thought."

Velazquez is part of a growing field of study that includes
archaeologists, musicians and historians. Medical doctors are
interested too, believing the Aztecs may have used sound to treat
illnesses.

Noisemakers made of clay, turkey feathers, sugar cane, frog skins and
other natural materials were an integral part of pre-Columbian life,
found at nearly every Mayan site.

The Aztecs sounded the low, foghorn hum of conch shells at the start
of ceremonies and possibly during wars to communicate strategies.
Hunters likely used animal-shaped ocarinas to produce throaty grunts
that lured deer.

The modern-day archaeologists who came up with the term Whistles of
Death believe they were meant to help the deceased journey into the
underworld, while tribes are said to have emitted terrifying sounds to
fend off enemies, much like high-tech crowd-control devices available
today.

Experts also believe pre-Columbian tribes used some of the instruments
to send the human brain into a dream state and treat certain
illnesses. The ancient whistles could guide research into how rhythmic
sounds alter heart rates and states of consciousness.

Among Velazquez's replicas are those that emit a strange cacophony so
strong that their frequency nears the maximum range of human hearing.

Chronicles by Spanish priests from the 1500s described the Aztec and
Mayan sounds as sad and doleful, although these may have been only
what was played in their presence.

"My experience is that at least some pre-Hispanic sounds are more
destructive than positive, others are highly trance-evocative," said
Arnd Adje Both, an expert in pre-Hispanic music archaeology who was
the first to blow the Whistles of Death found in the Aztec skeleton's
hands. "Surely, sounds were used in all kind of cults, such as
sacrificial ones, but also in healing ceremonies."

Sounds still play an important role in Mexican society. A cow bell
announces the arrival of the garbage truck outside Mexico City homes.
A trilling, tuneless flute heralds the knife sharpener's arrival. A
whistle emitting cat meows says the lottery ticket seller is here.

But pre-Columbian instruments often end up in a warehouse, Velazquez
said, "and I'm talking about museums around the world doing this, not
just here."

That's changing, said Tomas Barrientos, director of the archaeology
department at Del Valle University of Guatemala.

"Ten years ago, nothing was known about this," he said. "But with the
opening up of museum collections and people's private collections,
it's an area of research that is growing in importance."

Velazquez meticulously researches each noisemaker before replicating
it. He travels across Mexico to examine newly unearthed wind
instruments, some dating back to 400 B.C. and shaped like animals or
deities. He studies reliefs and scans 500-year-old Spanish chronicles.

But making replicas is only part of the work. Then he has to figure
out how to play them. He'll blow into some holes and plug others, or
press the instrument to his lips and flutter his tongue. Sometimes he
puts the noisemaker inside his mouth and blows, fluctuating the air
from his lungs.

He experimented with one frog-shaped whistle for a year before
discovering its inner croak.

Renowned archaeologist Paul Healy, who made an important discovery of
Mayan instruments in Belize in the 1980s, said many of the originals
still work.

"A couple of these instruments we found were broken, which was great
because we could actually see the construction of them, the actual
technology of building a sound chamber out of paper-thin clay," he said.

Still, their exact sounds will likely remain a mystery. "When you blow
into them, you still can get notes from them, so you could figure out
what the range was," Healy said. "But what we don't have is sheet
music to give us a more accurate picture of what it sounded like."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/06/30/pre-columbiansounds.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories#cnnSTCOther1

Near Death Experiences & the Medical Literature

by Mark Crislip
Miracle Max: See, there’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Now, mostly dead: he’s slightly alive. All dead, well, with all dead, there’s usually only one thing that you can do.
Inigo: What’s that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.
—The Princess Bride
In a recent issue of Skeptic (Vol. 13, No. 4), in the debate between Michael Shermer and Deepak Chopra about life after death, both authors refer to an article in the prestigious British medical journal Lancet about Near Death Experiences (NDEs), in which of 344 cardiac patients resuscitated from clinical death, 12 percent reported near-death experiences, where they had an out-of-body experience and saw a light at the end of a tunnel.: Lommel, P. V., R. V. Wees, V. Meyers, I. Elfferich. 2001. “Near-Death Experience in Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A Prospective Study in the Netherlands.” Lancet. Vol 358 No. 9298: 2039.
I read the article from the perspective of a practicing physician who spends all his time in an acute care hospital and has been involved with many cardiac arrests over the years. The NDE question in this study hinges on whether the were dead or nearly dead. In the article the authors “defined clinical death as a period of unconsciousness caused by insufficient blood supply to the brain because of inadequate blood circulation, breathing, or both. If, in this situation, CPR is not started within 5–10 min, irreparable damage is done to the brain and the patient will die.”
Every patient in this study had CPR, most within 10 minutes of their cardiac arrest, so they all had blood delivered to their brain. That is the point of CPR. The authors write: “If purely physiological factors resulting from cerebral anoxia caused NDE, most of our patients should have had this experience.” Yet, good CPR does not lead to cerebral anoxia. Most patients in this study did not have an NDE because they had CPR, so they had blood and oxygen delivered to the brain; thus, they could not have an anoxia mediated NDE.
So the real question is whether patients who had brain anoxia had an NDE, and there is no way to determine that in this paper. CPR by its self is not a good surrogate for cerebral anoxia. Having a cardiac arrest and being promptly coded does not mean there is insufficient blood and oxygen being supplied to the brain. CPR has variable efficacy, depending on the both the patient and the experience of the provider. Most of us who have had to be involved with a code know, for example, the horrible sensation of all the ribs cracking when you start CPR on a frail old lady and knowing that the CPR is probably not going to be effective.
As a result of variable CPR, the time it takes the brain to become anoxic is variable. And it is surprising at how little oxygen people can tolerate with no discernible dysfunction in their cognition, although you might not want them flying your 747. People come into the hospital all the time with the amount of oxygen in their blood decreased by 30,40, and even 50 percent, and yet can still walk and talk.
The point is that during a resuscitated cardiac arrest the ability of the brain to get oxygen can be quite variable, and if the CPR is done effectively the brain gets enough oxygen that it is not damaged. By the definitions presented in the Lancet paper, nobody experienced clinical death. No doctor would ever declare a patient in the middle of a code 99 dead, much less brain dead. Having your heart stop for 2 to 10 minutes and being promptly resuscitated doesn’t make you “clinically dead”. It only means your heart isn’t beating and you may not be consciousness. Declaring someone dead if their heart isn’t beating is not a good definition.
What about brain death? Here there are many criteria: the patient has to have no clinical evidence of brain function by physical examination, including no response to pain and a variety of nerve reflexes that do not work: cranial nerve, pupillary response (fixed pupils), oculocephalic reflex (steady gaze), corneal reflex (lack of reflexive blinking to stimulation), and no spontaneous respirations. They have to be off all drugs that mimic brain death for several days and they cannot have metabolic conditions that mimic death. It is important to distinguish between brain death and states that mimic brain death and most of the patients received either a benzo (valium like drugs) and/or a narcotic. A flat line EEG, two at least 24 hours apart, is another criteria. In other words, being declared brain dead is a time consuming and detailed procedure, as it should be. This will become important in a moment.
Michael Shermer at least quotes the paper that the patients were “clinically dead” using the authors’ own flawed definitions. But as we have seen, their definition of being clinically dead is an artifice used for the paper but of no clinical or physiological relevance. Deepak Chopra declares “when there was no measurable activity in the brain, when they were in fact brain dead,” and yet nowhere in the Lancet article do the authors mention whether, besides being unconscious, neurologic function was assessed and the clinical diagnosis of brain dead was determined.
In the discussion of the paper the authors state “Also, in cardiac arrest the EEG usually becomes flat in most cases within about 10 seconds from onset of syncope [loss of consciousness].” They reference an Annals of Internal Medicine article (“Electrocerebral accompaniments of Syncope Associated with Malignant Ventricular Arrhythmia’s.” 1988 Jun;108(6):791–6), as well as one in the journal Anesthesiology ( “Electroencephalographic Changes During Brief Cardiac Arrest in Humans.” 1990;73:821–25), where they put EEG monitors on patients who were having defibrillators implanted. One of the side effects of having a defibrillator implanted is that your heart is often stopped for a period of time, or you have a heart rhythm induced called ventricular tachycardia, that is usually fatal but can, to a small degree, perfuse the brain.
That is not true. I pulled the articles and read them. What they showed was slowing, attenuation, and other changes, but only a minority of patients had a flat line, and it took longer than 10 seconds. The curious thing was that even a little blood flow in some patients was enough to keep EEG’s normal To quote the annals paper, “Electroencephalographic changes were variable. Background slowing was usually followed by relative loss of electrocerebral activity.” It is a big difference between this and saying everyone flat lines in 10 seconds.
How long does it take to flat line? If there is zero perfusion, the experts at my hospital tell me it is more like 20 seconds. That’s with no perfusion. And the EEG experts tell me that the sensitivity of an EEG for function is more like a one megapixel camera than a 5 megapixel. The brain probably doesn’t start to die until several minutes elapses. In my state an EEG is considered so insensitive it does not have to be included as part of the criteria for determining if someone is brain dead; although we get it anyway, a flat line EEG is only part of the mix.
So there is a flat line EEG that occurs acutely when the brain is not getting oxygen, and there is the flat line that occurs when the brain is dead, and an EEG cannot distinguish between them. Only the person at the bedside can do that. So when the authors of the Lancet article write, “in cardiac arrest the EEG usually becomes flat in most cases within about 10 seconds from onset of syncope,” this is not supported by the literature they reference.
Mr. Chopra’s analysis that NDE patients are flat line and brain dead suffers from the same problems as the authors of the Lancet article. It simply isn’t supported by the particulars of the literature he quotes. Both Chopra and Shermer quote the article correctly as to number of NDE, although it depends on how an NDE is defined, hence saying 12 percent (Shermer) or 18 percent (Chopra) of patients had an NDE is correct, depending on how many criteria you include in a definition of an NDE. As well, the Lancet paper authors suspect a selection bias in their study and offer a “real” rate of 10 percent for NDE, or only 5 percent of patients if based on the number of resuscitations, as more CPRs lead to more NDEs. They also admit in the discussion that their broad definition of NDEs makes their percentage higher because it is more inclusive. It is all in how you define NDE.
One final curious caveat appears in the Lancet paper: “The investigators report that, at the 2-year follow-up, four of 37 patients contacted to act as controls (i.e., people who had not initially reported an NDE) reported that they had had one. Although these patients represent fewer than 1% of the total sample, they represent over 10% of the 37 patients interviewed with a view to acting as controls. If this subsample is at all representative, it implies that around 30 patients from the sample of 282 who initially denied an NDE would, if they had survived for another 2 years, be claiming that they had had one. ” Some of the NDEs were, it seems, implanted memories.
The discussion also greatly exaggerates the conclusions that can be drawn from their data. “We did not show that psychological, neurophysiological, or physiological factors caused these experiences after cardiac arrest.” Of course not, since the study could not have any reliable data as to causation of NDE’s.
This is followed by “NDE pushes at the limits of medical ideas about the range of human consciousness and the mind-brain relation.” I do not see this conclusion from the data in this article. Upon close reading I think the only thing this paper is qualified to determine is a description of who get NDEs and what patients report. As to etiology of NDEs, much less mind-brain relations, it can say nothing. The authors’ reach exceeds their grasp.
I am not saying NDEs don’t happen, and I am certainly not going to disagree with the idea that nearly dying is transformative. It is probably why real NDEs have greater effects on people than lab induced NDEs. The knowledge that you are truly mortal is life altering. Cancer survivors can have the same epiphany without the cardiac arrest.
The devil is in the details. As is so often the case, when you go back and read the original paper and its references, what the paper says and what the paper is purported to say often turn out to be two very different things.

D DAY FOR DARWIN


July 1 kicks off the big year for Charles Darwin. July 1, 2008, is the 150th anniversary of the first announcement of Darwin’s discovery of natural selection—until recently considered the main driving force of evolution.

This still remains a fundamental principle. During recent years, however, science has dramatically expanded the picture for human evolution. Underway is a significant shift from the old “kill thy neighbor” to a startling new “love thy neighbor” perspective.

Pioneering brain research, humanistic psychology, chaos theory, evolutionary systems science, as well as in physics and biology—in fields across the full spectrum for science evidence of a far more hopeful new perspective on human evolution is emerging.

Along with Darwin’s own long ignored moral-action-oriented completion for his theory of evolution, this hopeful new mix for science is the subject of a new six book Darwin Anniversary Book Cycle being published by the Benjamin Franklin Press. First books for the Cycle are now entering the global book stream through Amazon, Powells, Barnes & Noble, and through other online book sellers worldwide, with availability in book stores through the largest U.S. distributor, Ingrams.

Bankrolling Evolution

First of the six, Bankrolling Evolution: A Program for a President, links the concerns of European and Asian as well as American scientists directly to the current political situation in America. The book shows how the disasters of Bush years policies in America were driven by old model “survival of the fittest” and “selfish gene” Darwinism. Openly aligned to the shift to progressive leadership, it shows how under an Obama U.S. presidency the hopeful new scientific mix can be put to use to meet the immense environmental, political, economic, and social challenges we face globally.

Measuring Evolution

Second in the new Darwin Cycle, Measuring Evolution: A Leadership Guide to the Health and Wealth of Nations, is a report of the development of a new measure of local, national, and global health and wellbeing based on a new reconstruction of Darwin’s theory and the findings of modern scientific fields that corroborate it. Designed to provide a guide to more effective action for bettering our situation worldwide, the Global Sounding monitors a “new Darwinian” full range for evolution—from cosmic, chemical, and biological, to cultural, moral, and spiritual evolution.

Darwin’s Lost Theory

Third and core book for the Cycle, Darwin’s Lost Theory, uncovers the full picture for the revolutionary, yet strangely ignored, “second half” for Darwin’s theory of evolution. It tells of how Darwin's observations of the primacy of mutual aid, education, love, and moral sensitivity for human evolution were "buried in plain sight" during 100 years of our fixation on “survival of the fittest” —even though Darwin himself specifically insisted “other agencies” are more important at our level of evolution. It shows how recognition of this “lost” Darwinian theory could have changed the 20th century for the better—and can still help do the same for the 21st century.

Darwin on Love

Fourth for the Cycle is Darwin on Love. Long scattered throughout Darwin’s writings are ninety five stories of the love and sex life of an intriguing range of animals. Through the charm and delight of Darwin’s own love story—and the insights and humor of these ninety five stories of love and sex for the first time brought together here—this book provides an engaging introduction to the story and theory of Darwin for readers of all ages.

The Derailing of Evolution

Fifth for the Cycle, forthcoming in 2009, is The Derailing of Evolution. Detailing the dramatic, century-long battle of progressive scientists against the distortion of Darwin’s theory, this book reveals the power of how our minds can be seized by an over-riding paradigm that—with the best intentions of even the brightest of minds—can blindly drive us toward destruction. It underlines the importance of a new Darwinian model combining both parts of Darwin’s original vision of what in reality drives us ahead, checks us in place, or drives us backward in evolution.

Telling the New Story

Sixth for the Cycle, also for publication in 2009, Telling the New Story, is the first of a series on a new updating and expansion for the science and story of evolution by innovative educators. From grade school through graduate studies—with crucial attention to the media—the series will provide teacher’s guides and curricula designed to accelerate a shift in education from fixation on old model Darwinism to a new model science and story of “a place for every one of us in evolution.”

The Backstage Story

Behind this Darwin Anniversary Book Cycle lies the amazing story of how it came to be written and only published now after nearly twenty years.

All six books are the result of nearly two decades of research and writing by a single author: psychologist, evolutionary systems scientist, and author of the award-winning The Healing of a Nation, David Loye.

During the Cold War days, with the threat of nuclear annihilation hanging over the world, Loye was one of a handful of scientists from both sides of the Iron Curtain who met secretly in Budapest to see if they might jointly develop an alternative to the “old Darwinian” theory and mindset of “survival of the fittest” and “selfish genes” then driving the U.S. and Russia toward mutual destruction.

Out of this historic venture came the formation of two groups of leading American, European, and Asian scientists and educators to pursue this goal. Out of their research came Loye’s discovery of Darwin’s long ignored “higher” theory. Out of this potential scientific bombshell came the uphill battle against the old Darwinian paradigm for science, politics, economics, and the conservative take-over for late 20th century American publishing the new Darwin series reports.

For the rescue, reconstruction, and joining of Darwin’s lost “top half” to the “first half” for his theory of evolution, Dr.Loye has been widely hailed.

“...everyone concerned with our understanding of evolution on this planet owes Loye a deep debt of gratitude...Of urgent importance to the intellectual discourse of our time...has brought his unique erudition to an enormous and critical task, and carried it off with genius...Should cause a revolution in social theory...Dramatically changes our understanding of Darwin and of evolution itself...One of the major books of the early Twenty-First Century," internationally eminent scientists have written of the key book for the Cycle, Darwin’s Lost Theory.

For the six new Darwin Anniversary Cycle books, the Benjamin Franklin Press provides a “look inside” at covers, contents, author bio, and key chapters on its website: www.benjaminfranklinpress.com.
# # #

Astronomers on verge of finding Earth's twin Planet hunters say doppelgänger is almost surely hiding in our galaxy

Planet hunters say it's just a matter of time before they lasso Earth's twin, which almost surely is hiding somewhere in our star-studded galaxy.

Momentum is building: Just last week, astronomers announced they had discovered three super-Earths — worlds more massive than ours but small enough to most likely be rocky — orbiting a single star. And dozens of other worlds suspected of having masses in that same range were found around other stars.

"Being able to find three Earth-mass planets around a single star really makes the point that not only may many stars have one Earth, but they may very well have a couple of Earths," said Alan Boss, a planet formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, D.C.
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Since the early 1990s, when the first planets outside of our solar system were detected orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257, astronomers have identified nearly 300 such worlds. However, most of them are gas giants called hot Jupiters that orbit close to their stars because, simply, they are easier to find.

"So far we've found Jupiters and Saturns, and now our technology is becoming good enough to detect planets smaller, more like the size of Uranus and Neptune, and even smaller," said one of the top planet hunters on this world, Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley.

Marcy, Boss and other scientists are optimistic that within the next five or so years headlines will be splashed with news of a near twin of Earth in another star system.

"What is amazing to me is that for thousands of years humans have gazed at the stars, wondering if there might be another Earth out there somewhere," Boss told SPACE.com. "Now we know enough to say that Earth-like planets are indeed orbiting many of those stars, unseen perhaps, but there nevertheless."

Seeing tiny planets
Two techniques are now standard for spotting other worlds. Most of the planets noted to date have been discovered using the radial velocity method, in which astronomers look for slight wobbles in a star's motion due to the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet. This favors detection of very massive planets that are very close to their host stars.

With the transit method, astronomers watch for a dimming of light when a planet passes in front of its host star. Though more haphazard, this approach works when telescopes scan the light from hundreds or thousands of stars at once.




The search for extrasolar planets
How scientists detect worlds beyond the solar system
Both methods are limited by their ability to block out the overshadowing light of the host star. For instance, the sun is 100 times larger, 300,000 times more massive and up to 10 billion times brighter than Earth. "Detecting Earth in reflected light is like searching for a firefly six feet from a searchlight that is 2,400 miles distant," writes a panel of astronomers recently in their final report of the Exoplanet Task Force.

With upgrades in spectrometers and digital cameras attached to telescopes, astronomers' eyes have become more sensitive to relatively tiny stellar wobbles (measured by changes in certain wavelengths of light) and dips in starlight from ever smaller planets.

The discovery of super-Earths announced last week reflects this technological leap.

"I think why astronomers are really excited [about the super-Earth discovery] is it just shows that technology has really matured and so they're able to see these very subtle wobbles due to these low-mass planets," said David Charbonneau of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts. "Those were fairly massive stars. If they were able to get the same precision on a lower-mass star, they would be able to look at even lower-mass planets and so those really would be analogs of the Earth."

To eek out even more sensitivity from current technologies, Charbonneau suggests astronomers look for worlds around small stars.

He and other astronomers are in fact probing the universe for transiting planets orbiting M dwarfs, or red dwarfs, which are about 50 percent dimmer than the sun and much less massive. Red dwarfs are also considered the most common star type in the universe.

"I think the real opportunity there is to study low-mass stars, and that's because we're looking for very small planets," Charbonneau said. "The difficulty is the ratio between the planet's mass and the star's mass or the planet's size and the star's size depending on how you want to find it."

The low mass and luminosity means any changes to the star due to an Earth-mass planet are much more likely to be detected.

"A late M star is about 10 times smaller than the sun," said Penn State's James Kasting, who studies planetary atmospheres and the habitable zones of exoplanets. "So Earth going in front of an M star would give a 1 percent signal. That's like Jupiter going in front of the sun." Kasting added, "We could conceivably find an Earth analog planet by this method within the next five or ten years."

Other teams are gearing up to look for Earth-like worlds orbiting massive stars like the sun. NASA's Kepler observatory is scheduled for launch in February 2009, after which the high-powered telescope will monitor about 100,000 stars in the Milky Way looking for periodic dimming of starlight due to a planet's transit in front of the star.

The French COROT mission is already up in space working in a similar fashion.

The ultimate goal of planet-hunting projects is to find Earth twins.

"We are looking for twins of the Earth, analogs that walk and talk and smell like our own Earth," Marcy said during a telephone interview. He is currently looking for super-Earths using the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

Such a twin would be rocky, with a similar chemical composition to Earth, and would orbit within the habitable zone of its star.

The habitable zone defines the distance at which a planet must orbit from its star for liquid water to exist on its surface — not too hot like Venus, not too cold like Neptune or Pluto.

Astronomers have found planets orbiting pretty close to the habitable zone, but none so far within it.

"I suspect there are Earth-like planets with lakes and rivers and waterfalls and deep glacial gorges and that are spectacularly beautiful," Marcy said.

Finding a planet in the habitable zone is the first step toward finding alien life.

"When we say it's a habitable world, all we're doing is saying it potentially could hold life," Boss said. "To go beyond that to say, 'Here's a habitable world; is it inhabited,' then you need to start studying the atmosphere of the planet."

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled for launch in 2013, could do just that.

"There might be a signal in the atmosphere that could be a smoking gun and would suggest that plate tectonics is there," said earth and planetary scientist Diana Valencia of Harvard University.



Her computer models have shown that plate tectonics, the forces that move continents and lift gigantic mountain ranges, are key to life on Earth as we know it, and possibly to life on other worlds. That's because as the rocky plates that form the planet's outer shell move about, they also recycle carbon dioxide. This greenhouse gas keeps our planet's temperature balmy, but not too hot. And the telltale signal would be certain levels of carbon dioxide, suggesting that just as on Earth, this other world relies on plate tectonics to cycle carbon.

But first things first. "There's no doubt that other Earths exist, simply due to the sheer vast numbers of other stars and galaxies in our universe," Marcy said. "There's a deeper question — how common are Earth-like planets? Are Earth-like planets a dime a dozen, or are they quite rare, quirky precious planets that are one in a thousand or one in a million?"
© 2007 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Krokodillenbaby's communiceren in het ei

25-06-2008 | Door: Nanda Millenaar DAG
De baby's kruipen sneller uit hun ei na een geluidje te hebben gehoord.
Babykrokodillen ‘praten’ met elkaar. Vanuit het ei communiceren ze met ‘umph, umph, umph’. Het klinkt misschien niet erg welbespraakt, maar na vele jaren gissen hebben twee Franse wetenschappers het bewezen: het geluid dat een baby Nijlkrokodil maakt vlak voordat hij uit het ei komt heeft betekenis. ‘Umph’ is namelijk krokodillentaal voor iets in de trant van ‘ik kom eraan’. Met het geluid laten de kleintjes elkaar weten dat het tijd is om uit het ei te komen. Ook moeder wordt zo op de hoogte gesteld van de blije gebeurtenis. Daarnaast is het maken van geluid belangrijk voor de veiligheid. Door met zoveel mogelijk tegelijk uit te komen zijn de overlevingskansen het grootst.

De Franse Amélie Vergne en Nicolas Mathevon van de Université Jean Monnet publiceerden hun resultaten gisteren in het tijdschrift Current Biology. Voor het onderzoek hebben de twee onderzoekers een nest met eieren uitgegraven en verdeeld in drie groepen. Eén groep lieten ze een bandje met ‘umph’ geluiden horen, een tweede groep kreeg gewoon geluid te horen en de derde groep eieren lieten ze in stilte liggen. De eieren die de ‘umph’ opname te horen kregen begonnen zelf ook geluid te maken en kwamen vervolgens massaal binnen tien minuten uit. Bij krokodillenbaby’s die gewoon lawaai of helemaal niets hoorden, duurde het minimaal 5 uur langer voordat ze uit hun ei kropen.

Bijna dood

Sinds het verschijnen van het boek van de cardioloog Pim van Lommel, Eindeloos bewustzijn , staat het verschijnsel bijna dood ervaring (BDE) weer volop in de belangstelling. Van Lommel beweert dat hij wetenschappelijk kan aantonen dat bijna dood ervaringen bestaan. Mensen die een bijna dood ervaring hebben, hebben niet alleen die ervaring, maar deze ervaring heeft ook een basis in de werkelijkheid. Mensen verbeelden zich dus niet zomaar iets en ze verzinnen ook niet zomaar iets. Wat ze meemaken is echt meent Van Lommel. Hij baseert zich op de ervaringen van mensen die een hartaanval hebben overleefd. In 2001 heeft hij de resultaten van zijn onderzoek in het prestigieuze medische tijdschrift The Lancet weten te publiceren. In 2007 verscheen zijn boek Eindeloos bewustzijn dat onmiddellijk een bestseller werd.
Wat is een BDE en waarom fascineert het verschijnsel ons zo? Deze fascinatie heeft alles te maken met een verlangen naar een leven na de dood. Ook Hollywood heeft dit ontdekt. In de film Flatliners (1990) experimenteren vier medische studenten met bijna dood ervaringen door een hartstilstand te forceren. Ze willen weten of er een leven na de dood is. De titel slaat op het gegeven dat er bij een hartstilstand een vlakke lijn te zien valt op de meetapparatuur. Op dat moment ben je klinisch dood. Op dat moment is er geen hersenactiviteit meetbaar met een zogeheten EEG en zou je dus, volgens van Lommel, geen bewuste ervaringen hebben. Bij een bijna dood ervaring heb je op dat moment wel een bewuste ervaring en daarom moeten we, volgens Van Lommel, aannemen dat het bewustzijn onafhankelijk van de hersenen zou bestaan. Het gangbare wetenschappelijke uitgangspunt dat het bewustzijn een product van de hersenen is zou daarom op de helling moeten. Volgens Van Lommel kent het bewustzijn geen begin en geen einde en moeten we de hersenen zien als een soort ontvangstcentrale. Het bewustzijn is volgens Van Lommel niet materieel. De gedachte dat er een niet materieel bewustzijn en een leven na de dood zouden kunnen bestaan is voor veel mensen zeer aantrekkelijk. Vragen rond leven en dood blijven de mensen fascineren.
Een Bijna Dood Ervaring (BDE) is eigenlijk een soort ‘uittreding’. Het is een ‘uittreding’ die zich meestal voordoet bij een ongeluk, tijdens een operatie of bij een toestand van zware ziekte waarbij het fysieke lichaam op de rand van de dood verkeert. Vaak is de persoon zelfs klinisch dood geweest. Een deel van de ervaring is hetzelfde als bij een gewone uittreding zoals het waarnemen van plaatsen en personen enz.
Mensen die een bijnadoodervaring krijgen kunnen onder andere de volgende ervaringen opdoen: zij kunnen uit het lichaam treden en zien alles wat er om hen heen gebeurt. Zij horen wat er gezegd wordt door mensen en zien dikwijls hun eigen lichaam liggen, wat ze zonder emotie aanschouwen.
Zij kunnen door een tunnel of spiraalvormig element gaan wat soms wel en soms niet als prettig ervaren wordt. In deze fase zien zij op een gegeven moment een lichtpunt waar zij zich op richten en komen dan in de lichtwereld terecht. Sommige ervaarders komen rechtstreeks in de lichtwereld zonder een tunnelervaring voorafgaand. Daar aangekomen kunnen zij verschillende voorstellingen aanschouwen: een paradijselijke omgeving, een prachtig landschap met groen glooiende heuvels beplant met prachtige bomen, planten en bloemen die heel mooi van kleur zijn en in de aardse wereld nooit te zien zijn. Deze voorstellingen worden soms aangevuld met prachtige kleuren en wonderschone muziek.
In deze wereld kunnen lichtfiguren zich aan de ervaarder presenteren en deze figuren worden (terug in het aardse leven) door het individu verschillend geïnterpreteerd, zoals bijvoorbeeld engelen, Jezus, Christus, God, Lichtbron, het al, de Schepper, Boeddha et cetera. De namen die aan de figuren wordt gegeven is afhankelijk van de cultuur waaruit men afkomstig is en welk geloof de ervaarder aanhangt.
Met deze lichtwezens wordt veelal gesproken of lichamelijk contact gemaakt en er vindt een onuitsprekelijke ervaring van 'liefdesoverdracht' plaats. Ook vindt er soms een levensoverzicht plaats in het bijzijn van een liefdevol lichtwezen, die zonder oordeel over jou, je laat zien hoe je je leven tot nu toe hebt ervaren. Je wordt geconfronteerd met de voor jou goede en minder goede manieren in het leven en tijdens het overzicht ervaart de persoon de gevoelens (pijn én vreugde) van de medemens (alsof hij die persoon zelf is!) waarmee hij of zij (gedurende zijn leven!) in contact heeft gestaan. Dit kan heel confronterend zijn voor de ervaarder, omdat de ervaarder zélf gaat ervaren wat de vreugde en pijn was die hij of zij heeft gegeven in het leven.
Ook wordt er vaak aan de ervaarder gevraagd of hij of zij geleerd heeft om lief te hebben. Door de bijnadoodervaring heeft de ervaarder inzicht gekregen hoe hij of zij kan proberen om de (tot dan toe) verkeerde dingen in zijn of haar leven een goede wending te geven. Een voorbeeld van een bekend persoon die een BDE gehad heeft is Peter Sellers. De ‘Pink Panther’ , of inspecteur Clouseau. Na zijn eerste hartaanval was hij klinisch dood en had hij een BDE .’ Ik voelde mezelf uit mijn lichaam gaan .Ik zweefde gewoon uit mijn fysieke lichaam en zag dat ze mijn lichaam naar het hospitaal reden. Ik ging mee… Ik was helemaal niet bang of zo. Ik voelde me heel goed. Het was mijn lichaam dat een probleem had.’.
Ondertussen probeerde men hem te reanimeren.

‘Ik keek rond mij en zag een ongelooflijk helder mooi en liefdevol wit licht boven mij. Ik wilde niets meer dan naar dat licht te gaan…. Ik wist dat er liefde, echte liefde was aan de andere zijde van het licht. En deze liefde trok me zo sterk aan…’

Toen zijn hart terug begon te werken werd hij terug naar zijn fysieke lichaam gezogen. Ontgoocheld ontwaakte hij uit zijn toestand van klinische dood.

Deze ervaring had een diepe invloed op Peter Sellers. Hij geraakte erdoor overtuigd van het bestaan van reïncarnatie . Hij begon zich te verdiepen in een aantal geestelijke zaken en begon ook met yoga.
Dit is dus wat mensen ervaren. Dit zegt niets over de oorzaak van deze ervaringen of het achterliggende mechanisme. Uit het verhaal van Sellers wordt duidelijk dat een BDE het leven van mensen ingrijpend kan veranderen. Vaak wordt ook geclaimd dat mensen die een BDE hebben gehad daarna beschikken over paranormale gaven. Dit wordt ook gebruikt als argument voor het waarheidsgehalte van bijna dood ervaringen.
Wat moeten we hier nu van vinden? Is er werkelijk geen normale wetenschappelijke verklaring van de verschijnselen rond bijna dood ervaringen mogelijk? Als Van Lommel en andere aanhangers van de theorie dat BDE’s een verschijnsel zijn die overeenkomen met een stand van zaken in de werkelijkheid, dan hebben we een probleem. De hele wetenschap zou dan overhoop moeten. Het is de vraag of Van Lommel echt iets bewezen heeft. Zijn methodologie en bewijsvoering lijken me niet erg sterk. Een bekend adiagum uit de wetenschap is dat buitengewone aannames vragen om buitengewone bewijzen. De zogenaamde bewijzen waar Van Lommel mee komt zijn buitengewoon zwak. De argumenten waarmee hij de gangbare verklaringen van tafel veegt lijken me ook niet erg sterk.
Een van de meer gebruikelijke verklaringen is om BDE’s te verklaren vanuit een zuurstofgebrek in de hersenen. Volgens Van Lommel kan dit niet kloppen. Bij een zuurstoftekort zou er sprake zijn van een uitval van hersenactiviteit die gepaard gaat met hallucinaties en gevoelens van vrede en geluk. Dit zou komen doordat bepaalde receptoren in de hersenen worden geblokkeerd en maakt het lichaam een soort morfine (endorfine) aan. Volgens Van Lommel zou dit niet kunnen “omdat juist een verruimd en helder bewustzijn met herinneringen wordt ervaren en omdat er ook omstandigheden zijn zoals een dreigend verkeersongeluk of een depressie waarin een BDE kan worden zonder dat er sprake is van een zuurstofgebrek.” (Van Lommel, 2007, p.110) Uit het onderzoek van Van Lommel blijkt dat 18% van de mensen die een hartstilstand krijgen een BDE ervaren. Daaruit trekt hij de conclusie dat het bewustzijn wel los van de hersenen moet bestaan. Die 18% is echter consistent met de wetenschappelijke literatuur. Wanneer men bij een hartstilstand hartmassage toepast zal de bloedtoevoer naar de hersenen weer op gang komen. Op dat moment is de gemiddelde stroomsterkte in de hersenen niet genoeg om bewustzijn in de hersenen op te wekken. We hebben het hier echter over een gemiddelde. Er zijn dus variaties. Bij sommige mensen zou de stroomsterkte in de hersenen dus wel sterk genoeg kunnen zijn om bewustzijn op te wekken. Dit is bij ongeveer 20% van de reanimaties het geval. Dan is er de tunnel van licht die mensen zeggen te ervaren bij een BDE. Anesthesioloog Gerald Woerlee heeft hier een heel overtuigde verklaring voor. Ons oogweefsel heeft veel zuurstof nodig, meer nog dan de hersenen. Als er na hartstilstand slechts weinig zuurstof beschikbaar is, dan wordt het beetje zuurstof dat er nog is, gebruikt in het centrale deel van de ogen. Je ziet dus meer licht in het midden dan aan de randen, wat de ‘tunnel van licht’ verklaart. Het felle licht dat volgens mensen met een BDE aan het eind van de tunnel te zien is, kan worden verklaard door de verwijde pupillen van de bijna-overledene. Slechts een bescheiden lichtbron lijkt dan al enorm fel. Heel veel verschijnselen die Van Lommel beschrijft zijn te verklaren uit zuurstofgebrek in de hersenen. Andere verklaringen zijn een teveel aan kooldioxide. Verder spelen veranderingen in de chemische huishouding van de hersenen plaats. Men kan onder invloed van ketamine (een stof die vroeger bij narcoses werd gebruikt) ervaringen hebben die lijken op bijna dood ervaringen. Hetzelfde geldt voor de endorfine die de hersenen zelf aanmaken en voor psychedelica zoals bijvoorbeeld LSD en psilocybine (paddo’s). De elektrische activiteit van de hersenen zou ook nog een rol kunnen spelen. Er zijn dus veel verklaringen mogelijk voor de verschijnselen die Van Lommel beschrijft die een stuk minder vergezocht zijn dan die van Van Lommel.
Er is stevige kritiek mogelijk op Van Lommel. Hij plaatst zich in feite buiten de wetenschap en begeeft zich op het glibberige pad van de ‘spiritualiteit’. Zijn bevindingen zijn net zo wetenschappelijk als het geloof in UFO’s , graancirkels of paranormale verschijnselen. Fox Mulder in de bekende televisieserie ‘The X Files’ had op zijn kantoor altijd een poster hangen met de afbeelding van een UFO met daarbij de tekst ‘I want to believe’ (ik wil geloven). Deze serie gaat over een afdeling van de FBI die zich bezig houdt met onopgeloste en onverklaarbare zaken; de zogenaamde x files. Fox Mulder wilde maar al te graag geloven in UFO’.s en paranormale verschijnselen. Mulder is een believer. Het willen geloven staat het zicht op de werkelijkheid in de weg. Pim van Lommel is net als Fox Mulder; hij wil graag geloven. Ook Van Lommel is een believer. Dat zorgt er voor dat hij weinig kritisch op zijn onderzoek, kritiek te makkelijk wegwuift en met onwaarschijnlijke verklaringen van het verschijnsel BDE komt. Veel van de verschijnselen die Van Lommel beschrijft zijn op een normale manier te verklaren. Voor de verschijnselen die niet wetenschappelijk te verklaren zijn, moeten we er op vertrouwen dat er op termijn wel een wetenschappelijke verklaring zal komen.

Raymond van Es

Humans could all be aliens

>From Marlowe Hood in Paris

June 14, 2008 04:30am

GENETIC material from outer space found in a meteorite in Australia may
well have played a key role in the origin of life on earth, according to
a study to be published on Sunday.

European and US scientists have proved for the first time two bits of
genetic coding, called nucleobases, contained in the meteor fragment,
are truly extraterrestrial.

Previous studies had suggested the space rocks, which hit earth about 40
years ago, might have been contaminated upon impact.

Both of the molecules identified, uracil and xanthine, "are present in
our DNA and RNA," said lead author Zita Martins, a researcher at
Imperial College London.

RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is another key part of the genetic coding that
makes up our bodies.

These molecules would also have been essential to the still-mysterious
alchemy that somehow gave rise, about four billion years ago, to life
itself.

"We know that meteorites very similar to the Murchison meteorite, which
is the one we analysed, were delivering the building blocks of life to
earth 3.8 to 4.5 billion years ago," Martins said.

Competing theories suggest nucleobases were synthesised closer to home,
but Martins said the atmospheric conditions of early earth would have
rendered that process difficult or impossible.

A team of European and US scientists showed the two types of molecules
in the Australian meteorite contained a heavy form of carbon - carbon 13
- which could only have been formed in space.

"We believe early life may have adopted nucleobases from meteoric
fragments for use in genetic coding, enabling them to pass on their
successful features to subsequent generations," Martins said.

If so, this would have been the start of an evolutionary process leading
over billions of years to all the flora and fauna - including human
beings - in existence today.

The study, to be published in Earth Planetary Science Letters, also has
implications for life on other planets.

"Because meteorites represent leftover materials from the formation of
the solar system, the key components of life - including nucleobases -
could be widespread in the cosmos," said co-author Mark Sephton, also at
Imperial College London.

"As more and more of life's raw materials are discovered in objects from
space, the possibility of life springing forth wherever the right
chemistry is present becomes more likely," he said.

Uracil is an organic compound found in RNA, where it binds in a genetic
base pair with another molecule, adenine.

Xanthine is not directly part of RNA or DNA, but participates in a
series of chemical reactions inside the RNA of cells.

The two types of nucleobases and the ratio of light-to-heavy carbon
molecules were identified through gas chromatography and mass
spectrometry, technologies that were not available during earlier
analyses of the now-famous meteorite.

Even so, said Martins, the process was extremely laborious and
time-consuming, one reason it had not be carried out up to now by other
scientists.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23861977-38200,00.html