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Saturday, March 15, 2008

Space probe Cassini performed a close flyby of Saturn‘s icy moon Enceladus on Wednesday. The fate of the $3.5 billion mission was in the balance as the bus-sized spacecraft swooped to just 50 km (30 mi) above the surface of Enceladus to sample the frozen spray issuing from geysers on the moon’s surface. The “water” spraying from these geysers is in the form of dust-sized, frozen water particles, which are ejected into space by gaseous water vapors that build up pressure deep within icy fissures on Enceladus.

Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer was unavailable due to a glitch in the updated software that was supposed to provide an increased hit count of the geyser dust particles. However, dust samples were collected before and after the closest approach and the mass spectrometer functioned throughout the flyby, providing useful data which is now being analyzed.

Mission controllers will have a chance to capture more geyser dust on October 9, 2008 when they may choose to steer Cassini even closer to the surface of Enceladus.

Tidal flexing of this moon due to the gravitational proximity of its host planet, Saturn, continually heaves and cracks the icy surface. This suggests that Enceladus may have a squishy, liquid-water ocean beneath an icy crust. Deep, parallel fissures in the ice crust, dubbed the “Tiger Stripes”, measure warmer than uncracked, stationary surfaces nearby. Friction of these massive, moving plates of ice is thought to provide the heat responsible for the pressurized geysers of sublimated water and ice dust. The presence of these geysers amounts to more empirical evidence of a large, liquid water ocean below the surface of Enceladus.

The Cassini-Huygens space probe is an international mission involving the cooperative efforts of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. Launched in 1997, Cassini has orbited Saturn since 2004 but has never before flown so close to a moon. On 14 January 2005, the Huygens lander successfully explored the atmosphere and surface conditions of Saturn’s biggest moon, Titan.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The US embassy in the Philippines said Tuesday that military maneuvers between US and domestic troops will resume next month after its suspension last month when a Philippine court refused to transfer custody of Daniel Smith, a US Marine convicted of raping a Filipina, to the US embassy.

In a statement, the US embassy said that the Balikatan exercises will be conducted from February 8 to March 4, focusing on civil-military operations like bringing medical assistance to war-torn areas where alleged Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants are active.

US Navy ship visits are also planned.

Dozens of US troops are deployed on Jolo island in humanitarian projects, but officials said they also helped provide intelligence data that led to the killings of the two top leaders of the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf is on Washington’s terrorist watchlist and has been blamed for bombings and for the kidnapping deaths of two Americans snatched in 2001.

US Ambassador to Manila, Kristie Kenney, said on Monday that relations between her country and the Philippines were back at a high after two of the most wanted Islamic militants here were killed.

“I feel very strongly that we must congratulate the Armed Forces of the Philippines. They are dedicated and doing a wonderful job of keeping the people safe,” she said.

Ambassador Kenney said joint military exercises have been planned for all of 2007 but said they would focus mainly on humanitarian assistance.

Kenney’s statement as she joined US troops in distributing relief goods to Bicol victims of a recent supertyphoon, preceded the arrival on Wednesday of US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes.

The envoy’s remarks were a departure from the tough words issued by the US government at the height of the custody controversy over the US Marine rape convict.

Hughes’ three-day visit will be capped by a one-on-one meeting with President Arroyo. She will also meet with other government officials and visit Sulu, where American troops are helping the Philippine military supposedly to flush out Islamic militants.

It will be Hughes’ first visit to Manila, where the US Embassy wants to shift the focus of the annual Balikatan joint military exercises between the two countries from military training to humanitarian efforts.

Meanwhile, activist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan on Tuesday said it opposes the resumption of the RP-US military exercises by launching a nationwide mass protests on February 8.

Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes does not believe that the Balikatan will focus mainly on humanitarian missions in Mindanao.

“That is just a public relations ploy. The Balikatan is the biggest bilateral military exercises between the Philippines and the US. It has always been a showcase of US military might and forward presence in the region. The Balikatan has always been a major US military operation,” Reyes said.

The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) governing the annual Balikatan exercises, which usually brings 3000-5000 US troops to the Philippines, is castigated by several groups and individuals in the Philippines for its unconstitutionality and biased towards US interests.

“We must not forget the atrocities of the US then and the continuing atrocities and violations of national sovereignty that it commits now,” Reyes said.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Recent tests have shown that an inexpensive drug may be able to kill cancer cells in humans. Dichloroacetate, a drug generally used to treat rare metabolic disorders, has shown the potential to assist in the treatment of brain, lung, and breast cancers, researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada say.

Dr. Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found that that DCA causes tumor regressions in animals with human cancers. Testing showed that DCA attacked cancer cells but did not attack healthy cells.

The researchers and the Alberta Cancer Board and Capital Health do not advise the use of DCA to treat cancer yet, as clinical trials for the drugs use to treat cancer have not been performed yet.

Unlike healthy cells, cancerous cells do not convert food molecules into energy in the mitochondria. Instead, they rely on a process known as glycolysis, which takes place in the main body of the cell, while the mitochondria are “shut down”, researchers believe possibly due to the lack of oxygen supply to cells in the middle of a tumor.

This means that another key function of the mitochondria – to activate an abnormal cell’s self-destruct mechanism, apoptosis – is also blocked.

When Dichloroacetate (DCA) enters a cancer cell, it restarts the mitochondria which in turn activate apoptosis, and the cancerous cell destroys itself.

DCA is known to be relatively safe, although pain, numbness and gait disturbances may occur. The drug is also expected to be cheaper to manufacture than other drugs since there is no patent for it.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Most of the Eurovision entrants have returned home from their sojourn in Moscow, Russia, and the newspapers across Europe have varied opinions. Most national newspapers congratulated their entrants on a job well done, while others trash-talked other entrants, and still others called for their countries to pull out of the Contest.

Here are some interviews, articles and opinions that made it to the front pages of newspapers and to their sanctioned blogs.

Norway’s mass media was filled with stories revolving around the winner, Alexander Rybak, but a secondary story that received press coverage was outcry against NRK‘s Eurovision commentator, Synnøve Svabø, who was criticized for talking incessantly during the event, making leering comments regarding the contents inside the male entrants’ tight pants, and making a joke about stuffing sweatsocks in her own bra. When asked for a statement by Aftenposten, Svabø said, “I guess people think I should have put the socks in my throat.” NRK did not comment on Svabø’s commentating or whether she will be returning next year.

Sweden’s newspaper Aftonbladet wrote that the “Swede of the evening” was not Sweden’s entrant Malena Ernman, but Malmö-raised Arash Labaf, one of the two singers placing third for Azerbaijan. Markus Larsson wrote, “21st place? Well, this is our second-worst result ever…Malena Ernman fell so far and deep that she almost ended up in Finland. That is to say, almost last.” When asked if she was disappointed, Ernman responded, “No, but I am sorry if the Swedes are disappointed.” She went on to quip, “Europe is simply not ready for my high notes.”

Finland, despite placing last, wrote upbeat stories; Helsingin Sanomat published an interview with Waldo and Karoliina from the Finnish act, Waldo’s People, who announced how happy they were to have participated and will be going right back to work with performances and recordings as soon as they return to Finland.

Most British newspapers in past years published lengthy screeds regarding their bad luck in the Contest and whether they should send an entrant at all. This year all that talk subsided, and newspapers published articles congratulating Jade Ewen on her fifth place ranking. Sir Terry Wogan, former Eurovision commentator for the BBC, said to the Daily Express about this year’s voting overhaul, “I think my protest about the voting was totally vindicated by the changes that were made to the scoring this year. It made a real difference. It was the change that Eurovision needed.” One of the headlines in Monday’s Daily Mail reads: “She did us proud.” Andrew Lloyd Webber, who worked with Ewen, said, “Jade performed brilliantly. After years of disappointing results, the UK can finally hold its head high.”

Spain’s newspaper El Mundo published an article entitled “Soraya’s fiasco,” outlining Soraya Arnelas‘s failure to receive points from 37 of the 41 other voting nations, with the writer remarking, “After a whole year trying to forget [Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, Spain’s “joke entrant” from 2008], Soraya jumped on-stage with strength…Spain’s experiment ended with longing [for] Rodolfo Chikilicuatre.” When asked about her performance and the result, Arnelas said, “I’ll hang on to the experiences I had, the great friends that I made and I’m happy because now I’m known in Europe.”

French newspapers and blogs were muted compared to other countries, but the overall feeling was still very supportive of Patricia Kaas, who placed eighth. In an interview with Le Figaro, Kaas said, “Eighth place, that’s not so bad. It was a great moment for France, we held our head high.” France Soir noted, “[Kaas’s] emotion does not seem to have found a place with competitors that have relied on heavy artillery choreography worthy of those like Shakira, and glamorous outfits, to ensure a place on the podium.”

German newspapers published lengthy stories analyzing why Germany was in the bottom quartile for the third straight year. Die Welt wrote, “The Germans have become accustomed to it: winning the Eurovision Song Contest just does not work [for us]. [Compared] to the total failure of last place with No Angels last year, [this] result is almost a sensational success.” Bild commented, “For years we have had little success. Germany’s placement, despite all efforts, will not be better. Why are we still participating in the Eurovision Song Contest?”

Ireland, who failed to make it to the final, led the cry to pull out of Eurovision. In the Irish Independent, Ian O’Doherty wrote, “Ireland managed something quite rare and rather gratifying last week — we actually managed to produce a Eurovision song that didn’t make you want to rip off your own eyelids so you could stuff them in your ears to stop the horrible sounds…[Sinéad] Mulvey’s elimination is proof of one thing: we need to pull out of this pile of rubbish as soon as possible.”

The Netherlands, another nation that did not make it past the semi-final round, has been very apathetic toward the Contest in recent years, and this year was no different. De Telegraaf conducted an opinion poll of Dutch television viewers, and 90% of them believed the Netherlands should not enter the Contest anymore. Despite the stated apathy, 2.5 million Dutch viewers watched De Toppers compete in the second semi-final, an improvement of 800,000 from last year’s semi-final, where Dutch entrant Hind also failed to advance. De Toppers singer Gordon, in an interview with De Telegraaf, said that the Netherlands should continue to compete: “One time, we will succeed.”

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