Apr. 2, 2013 ? A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows Jonckheere 900 or J 900, a planetary nebula -- glowing shells of ionized gas pushed out by a dying star. Discovered in the early 1900s by astronomer Robert Jonckheere, the dusty nebula is small but fairly bright, with a relatively evenly spread central region surrounded by soft wispy edges.
Despite the clarity of this Hubble image, the two objects in the picture above can be confusing for observers. J 900's nearby companion, a faint star in the constellation of Gemini, often causes problems for observers because it is so close to the nebula -- when observation conditions are bad, this star seems to merge into J 900, giving it an elongated appearance. Hubble's position above the Earth's atmosphere means that this is not an issue for the space telescope.
Astronomers have also mistakenly reported observations of a double star in place of these two objects, as the planetary nebula is quite small and compact.
J 900's central star is only just visible in this image, and is very faint -- fainter than the nebula's neighbor. The nebula appears to display a bipolar structure, where there are two distinct lobes of material emanating from its center, enclosed by a bright oval disk.
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The term 'living fossil' has a controversial history. For decades, scientists have argued about its usefulness as it appears to suggest that some organisms have stopped evolving. New research has now investigated the origin of tadpole shrimps, a group commonly regarded as 'living fossils' which includes the familiar Triops. The research reveals that living species of tadpole shrimp are much younger than the fossils they so much resemble, calling into question the term 'living fossil'.
Darwin informally introduced the term 'living fossil' in On the Origin of Species when talking about the platypus and lungfish, groups that appear to have diversified little and appear not to have changed over millions of years. For him living fossils were odd remnants of formerly more diverse groups, and suggestive of a connection between different extant groups. Ever since, the term has been widely used to describe organisms such as the coelacanth, the horseshoe crab and the ginkgo tree. The term has been controversial, as it appears to suggest that evolution has stopped altogether for these organisms, and some scientists have argued that it should be abandoned.
Tadpole shrimps are a small group of ancient crustaceans (a group which includes the familiar Triops) that are often called 'living fossils', because the living species look virtually identical to fossils older than the dinosaurs. Analysing DNA sequences of all known tadpole shrimps, and using fossils from related crustacean groups ? such as the water flea and the brine shrimp ? the team of researchers, from the University of Hull, University of Leicester and the Natural History Museum in London, showed that tadpole shrimps have in fact undergone several periods of radiation and extinction.
Different species of tadpole shrimp often look very similar (they are called 'cryptic species'), and so it is only with the advent of DNA sequencing that scientists have realized that they are a surprisingly diverse group. The team's results uncovered a total of 38 species, many of them still undescribed. This abundance of 'cryptic species' makes it very difficult for fossils to be assigned to any particular species as they all look remarkably similar. For example, 250-million-year-old fossils have been assigned to the living European species Triops cancriformis whereas the team's results indicate that the living T. cancriformis evolved less than 25 million years ago. First author Tom Mathers says "In groups like tadpole shrimps where cryptic speciation is common, the fossil record says very little about patterns of evolution and diversification and so the term 'living fossil' can be quite misleading. For this reason, we used fossils from related groups to gain an understanding about the evolution of tadpole shrimps".
The lead author Africa G?mez said, "Living fossils evolve like any other organism, they just happen to have a good body plan that has survived the test of time. A good analogy could be made with cars. For example the Mini has an old design that is still selling, but newly made Minis have electronic windows, GPS and airbags: in that sense, they are still 'evolving', they are not unchanged but most of the change has been 'under the hood' rather than external. By comparison, organisms labeled as 'living fossils' such as tadpole shrimps, are constantly fine-tuning their adaptation to their environment. Although outwardly they look very similar to tadpole shrimp fossils from the age of the dinosaurs, their DNA and reproductive strategies are relatively hidden features that are constantly evolving. The flexibility of their reproductive strategies, which our research has revealed, could be the evolutionary trick that has allowed them to persist as a morphologically conservative group for so long"
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The new study is published today in PeerJ, a new peer reviewed open access journal in which all articles are freely available to everyone (https://PeerJ.com).
PeerJ: http://https://peerj.com
Thanks to PeerJ for this article.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House, busy with its annual Easter Egg Roll, also managed to pull off an April Fools' prank.
The White House Twitter account announced earlier Monday to be on the lookout for a "special video message from the president."
Instead, viewers got a surprise visitor to the press briefing room.
The piece began with a shot of the familiar lectern regularly used by press secretary Jay Carney. It was empty as the presidential entrance march played. Then a small head peeked over the edge of the stand.
"It looks like you were expecting somebody else."
Indeed. It was Robbie Novak, who plays "Kid President" in a series of popular YouTube videos. "April Fools on all of you all," he said.
New instrument will quickly detect botulinum, ricin, other biothreat agentsPublic release date: 2-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mike Janes mejanes@sandia.gov 925-294-2447 DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
LIVERMORE, Calif. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing a medical instrument that will be able to quickly detect a suite of biothreat agents, including anthrax, ricin, botulinum, shiga and SEB toxin.
The device, once developed, approved by the Food and Drug Administration and commercialized, would most likely be used in emergency rooms in the event of a bioterrorism incident.
"This is an unmet need for the nation's biodefense program," said Anup Singh, senior manager for Sandia's biological science and technology group. "A point-of-care device does not exist."
Sandia's work is funded by a recent grant nearly $4 million over four years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. NIH has funded a number of recent projects at Sandia.
Sandia's biosciences and microfluidics program areas have continued to evolve with a string of notable projects, including:
MicroChemLab, a trailblazer in lab-on-a-chip technology, developed in the early 1990s
The "saliva device" and a follow-up technology, RapiDx, developed in the early-to-mid 2000s
SpinDx, the latest medical diagnostic tool developed at Sandia
"This will take things to the next level," said Singh. In addition to the broader suite of toxins and bacterial agents that the device would test for, the project includes comprehensive testing with animal (mouse) samples.
This is an important step, Singh said, since toxins may behave differently in live animals and humans than in laboratory blood samples. "We are getting closer and closer to translational elements of research, which involves testing in animal and clinical facilities. This is part of the maturation of our bioresearch activities at Sandia."
The project also will increase what SpinDx can do, he added.
"When you look for bacterial agents, you don't want to rely solely on proteins because you won't get the detection sensitivity you need," explained Singh. "So we are also using other methods that may lead to better detection limits and additional confirmation."
The new NIH project includes collaborators with expertise in animal modeling as well as device manufacturing.
The University of Texas Medical Branch, with whom Sandia enjoys a years-long partnership, together with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., are providing Sandia with expert insight into toxins and diseases at animal lab facilities. Bio-Rad, a manufacturer and distributor of a variety of devices and laboratory technologies, is serving as a consultant on the project to evaluate plans for product development, assist with manufacturers' criteria on the device that is developed, and provide important feedback when a prototype is built.
Although the latest NIH award represents a continuing success story for Sandia's microfluidics/bioresearch work, Singh stresses that it was part of a thoughtful multi-year strategy.
"You've got to keep innovating and coming up with the next thing," he said. "Every technology has its lifecycle. As good as SpinDx is, we know there will be other technologies, better technologies that come along in the next few years. We have to continue to innovate to meet the needs of our customers, understand what other competing technologies are being designed to solve the problems and develop technologies that provide an improvement."
The need for diagnostic devices for biodefense is not going away, Singh said, since there are always new diseases springing up that lack good diagnostic assays.
"Plus, we want dual-use devices that combat both man-made and nature-made problems," he added. "We're not just going to wait for the next anthrax letter incident to happen for our devices to be used and tested; we want them to be useful for other things as well, like infectious diseases."
Expanding into those areas, he said, will keep Sandia's bioresearch efforts engaged for years to come.
"That's where the value of the national labs really comes in," Singh said. "Our capabilities and culture are a very good fit for tackling long-term problems that require a sustained effort."
###
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New instrument will quickly detect botulinum, ricin, other biothreat agentsPublic release date: 2-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mike Janes mejanes@sandia.gov 925-294-2447 DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
LIVERMORE, Calif. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing a medical instrument that will be able to quickly detect a suite of biothreat agents, including anthrax, ricin, botulinum, shiga and SEB toxin.
The device, once developed, approved by the Food and Drug Administration and commercialized, would most likely be used in emergency rooms in the event of a bioterrorism incident.
"This is an unmet need for the nation's biodefense program," said Anup Singh, senior manager for Sandia's biological science and technology group. "A point-of-care device does not exist."
Sandia's work is funded by a recent grant nearly $4 million over four years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. NIH has funded a number of recent projects at Sandia.
Sandia's biosciences and microfluidics program areas have continued to evolve with a string of notable projects, including:
MicroChemLab, a trailblazer in lab-on-a-chip technology, developed in the early 1990s
The "saliva device" and a follow-up technology, RapiDx, developed in the early-to-mid 2000s
SpinDx, the latest medical diagnostic tool developed at Sandia
"This will take things to the next level," said Singh. In addition to the broader suite of toxins and bacterial agents that the device would test for, the project includes comprehensive testing with animal (mouse) samples.
This is an important step, Singh said, since toxins may behave differently in live animals and humans than in laboratory blood samples. "We are getting closer and closer to translational elements of research, which involves testing in animal and clinical facilities. This is part of the maturation of our bioresearch activities at Sandia."
The project also will increase what SpinDx can do, he added.
"When you look for bacterial agents, you don't want to rely solely on proteins because you won't get the detection sensitivity you need," explained Singh. "So we are also using other methods that may lead to better detection limits and additional confirmation."
The new NIH project includes collaborators with expertise in animal modeling as well as device manufacturing.
The University of Texas Medical Branch, with whom Sandia enjoys a years-long partnership, together with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., are providing Sandia with expert insight into toxins and diseases at animal lab facilities. Bio-Rad, a manufacturer and distributor of a variety of devices and laboratory technologies, is serving as a consultant on the project to evaluate plans for product development, assist with manufacturers' criteria on the device that is developed, and provide important feedback when a prototype is built.
Although the latest NIH award represents a continuing success story for Sandia's microfluidics/bioresearch work, Singh stresses that it was part of a thoughtful multi-year strategy.
"You've got to keep innovating and coming up with the next thing," he said. "Every technology has its lifecycle. As good as SpinDx is, we know there will be other technologies, better technologies that come along in the next few years. We have to continue to innovate to meet the needs of our customers, understand what other competing technologies are being designed to solve the problems and develop technologies that provide an improvement."
The need for diagnostic devices for biodefense is not going away, Singh said, since there are always new diseases springing up that lack good diagnostic assays.
"Plus, we want dual-use devices that combat both man-made and nature-made problems," he added. "We're not just going to wait for the next anthrax letter incident to happen for our devices to be used and tested; we want them to be useful for other things as well, like infectious diseases."
Expanding into those areas, he said, will keep Sandia's bioresearch efforts engaged for years to come.
"That's where the value of the national labs really comes in," Singh said. "Our capabilities and culture are a very good fit for tackling long-term problems that require a sustained effort."
###
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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FILE - In this March 15, 2013, file photo the Senate Minority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, points to a 7-foot stack of ?Obamacare? regulations to underscore his disdain during the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. McConnell said Democrats have been predicting for years that Americans would learn to love the health care overhaul and that has not happened. ?I agree that it will be a big issue in 2014,? he said. ?I think it will be an albatross around the neck of every Democrat who voted for it. They are going to be running away from it, not toward it.? (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE - In this March 15, 2013, file photo the Senate Minority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, points to a 7-foot stack of ?Obamacare? regulations to underscore his disdain during the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. McConnell said Democrats have been predicting for years that Americans would learn to love the health care overhaul and that has not happened. ?I agree that it will be a big issue in 2014,? he said. ?I think it will be an albatross around the neck of every Democrat who voted for it. They are going to be running away from it, not toward it.? (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? How do you convince millions of average Americans that one of the most complex and controversial programs devised by government may actually be a good deal for them?
With the nation still split over President Barack Obama's health care law, the administration has turned to the science of mass marketing for help in understanding the lives of uninsured people, hoping to craft winning pitches for a surprisingly varied group in society.
The law's supporters will have to make the sale in the run-up to an election ? the 2014 midterms. Already Republicans are hoping for an "Obamacare" flop that helps them gain control of the Senate, while Democrats are eager for the public to finally embrace the Affordable Care Act, bringing political deliverance.
It turns out America's more than 48 million uninsured people are no monolithic mass. A marketing analysis posted online by the federal Health and Human Services Department reveals six distinct groups, three of which appear critical to the success or failure of the program.
They're the "Healthy & Young," comprising 48 percent of the uninsured, the "Sick, Active & Worried," (29 percent of the uninsured), and the "Passive & Unengaged" (15 percent).
The Healthy & Young take good health for granted, are tech-savvy, and have "low motivation to enroll." The Sick, Active & Worried are mostly Generation X and baby boomers, active seekers of health care information and worried about costs. The Passive & Unengaged group is mostly 49 and older, "lives for today," and doesn't understand much about health insurance.
The challenge for the administration is obvious: signing up lots of the Healthy & Young, as well as the Passive & Unengaged, to offset the higher costs of covering the sick and worried.
Uninsured middle-class Americans will be able to sign up for subsidized private health plans through new insurance markets in their states starting Oct.1. Low-income uninsured people will be steered to safety net programs like Medicaid.
"The goal here is to get as many people enrolled as possible," Gary Cohen, the HHS official overseeing the rollout of the law, told insurers at a recent industry conference. Partly for that reason the first open enrollment period will continue until March 31, 2014.
Coverage under the law takes effect Jan. 1. That's also when the legal requirement that most Americans carry health insurance goes into force. Insurance companies will be barred from turning the sick away or charging them more.
The new law is mainly geared to the uninsured and to people who buy coverage directly from insurance companies. Most Americans in employer plans are not expected to see major changes.
Administration officials say they see an opportunity to change the national debate about health care. They want to get away from shouting matches about the role of government and start millions of practical conversations about new benefits that can help families and individuals.
The HHS marketing materials reveal some barriers to getting the uninsured to embrace the law.
The Healthy & Young lead busy lives and tend to be procrastinators. Plus, why would they need health insurance if they're full of vigor? The Passive & Unengaged fear the unknown and have difficulty navigating the health care system. The Sick, Active & Worried dread making wrong decisions.
Marketing for the new system will start this summer, going into high gear during the fall after premiums and other plan information becomes public.
There's already widespread concern that the new coverage costs too much, because of a combination of sicker people joining the pool and federal requirements that insurers offer more robust benefits. A recent study by the Society of Actuaries forecast sticker shock, estimating that insurers will have to pay an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies.
The administration says such studies are misleading because they don't take into account parts of the law that offset costs to individuals and insurance companies, along with other provisions that promote competition and increase oversight of insurance rates.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who has long supported coverage for the uninsured, is predicting vindication for Obama once people see how the program really works.
"It's harder to sell what is a pretty new idea for Americans while it is still in the abstract," said Schakowsky, who represents Chicago. "I think as people experience it, they're going to love it, much like Medicare."
That will put wind in the sails of Democratic candidates. "I think it's going to be a very popular feature as far as the American way of life before too long," Schakowsky added.
But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says Democrats have been predicting for years that Americans would learn to love the health care overhaul and that has not happened. McConnell had his picture taken next to a 7-foot stack of "Obamacare" regulations recently to underscore his disdain.
"I agree that it will be a big issue in 2014," said McConnell. "I think it will be an albatross around the neck of every Democrat who voted for it. They are going to be running away from it, not toward it."
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Public release date: 2-Apr-2013
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