Apr. 10, 2013 ? A new study tracks the "rain" of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and finds there is more of it and it falls across larger areas of the planet than previously thought. The study, whose observations were funded by NASA and whose analysis was led by the University of Leicester, England, reveals that the rain influences the composition and temperature structure of parts of Saturn's upper atmosphere.
The paper appears in this week's issue of the journal Nature.
"Saturn is the first planet to show significant interaction between its atmosphere and ring system," said James O'Donoghue, the paper's lead author and a postgraduate researcher at Leicester. "The main effect of ring rain is that it acts to 'quench' the ionosphere of Saturn. In other words, this rain severely reduces the electron densities in regions in which it falls."
O'Donoghue explains that the ring's effect on electron densities is important because it explains why, for many decades, observations have shown those densities to be unusually low at certain latitudes on Saturn. The study also helps scientists better understand the origin and evolution of Saturn's ring system and changes in the planet's atmosphere.
"It turns out that a major driver of Saturn's ionospheric environment and climate across vast reaches of the planet are ring particles located some 36,000 miles [60,000 kilometers] overhead," said Kevin Baines, a co-author on the paper, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The ring particles affect both what species of particles are in this part of the atmosphere and where it is warm or cool."
In the early 1980s, images from NASA's Voyager spacecraft showed two to three dark bands on Saturn, and scientists theorized that water could have been showering down into those bands from the rings. Those bands were not seen again until this team observed the planet in near-infrared wavelengths with the W.M Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, in Hawaii, in April 2011. The effect was difficult to discern because it involves looking for a subtle emission from bright parts of Saturn. It required an instrument like that on Keck, which can split up a large range of light.
The ring rain's effect occurs in Saturn's ionosphere, where charged particles are produced when the otherwise neutral atmosphere is exposed to a flow of energetic particles or solar radiation. When the scientists tracked the pattern of emissions of a particular hydrogen ion with three protons (triatomic hydrogen), they expected to see a uniform planet-wide infrared glow. What they observed instead was a series of light and dark bands -- with areas of reduced emission corresponding to water-dense portions of Saturn's rings and areas of high emission corresponding to gaps in the rings.
They surmised that charged water particles from the planet's rings were being drawn towards the planet along Saturn's magnetic field lines and were neutralizing the glowing triatomic hydrogen ions. This leaves large "shadows" in what would otherwise be a planet-wide infrared glow. These shadows cover some 30 to 43 percent of the planet's upper atmosphere surface from around 25 to 55 degrees latitude. This is a significantly larger area than suggested by images from NASA's Voyager mission.
Both Earth and Jupiter have an equatorial region that glows very uniformly. Scientists expected this pattern at Saturn, too, but they instead saw dramatic differences at different latitudes.
"Where Jupiter is glowing evenly across its equatorial regions, Saturn has dark bands where the water is falling in, darkening the ionosphere," said Tom Stallard, a paper co-author at Leicester. "We're now also trying to investigate these features with an instrument on NASA's Cassini spacecraft. If we're successful, Cassini may allow us to view in more detail the way that water is removing ionized particles, such as any changes in the altitude or effects that come with the time of day."
Keck observing time was funded by NASA, with a letter of support from the Cassini mission to Saturn. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.
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Journal Reference:
J. O?Donoghue, T. S. Stallard, H. Melin, G. H. Jones, S. W. H. Cowley, S. Miller, K. H. Baines, J. S. D. Blake. The domination of Saturn?s low-latitude ionosphere by ring ?rain?. Nature, 2013; 496 (7444): 193 DOI: 10.1038/nature12049
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
For JC Penney, it's going to have to be a trip back to the future if it wants to woo the customers it alienated with its failed no sales, no discounts policy. Apparently, Americans love their coupons.
A day after the struggling retailer ousted the Ron Johnson, the architect of the policy, retail industry analysts said JC Penney's newly reappointed CEO Myron Ullman would need to revive discounts and promotions that its loyal customers knew and loved.
"You have to have the discounts, but then you have to have full price, too," said Dana Telsey, chief executive of Telsey Advisory Group. "You have to give the consumer product that they're willing to pay full price for, and that's branding the store."
In a report issued on Monday, JP Morgan analysts said they expect the company will return to coupons and promotions as part of an effort to stabilize itself before the crucial back-to-school season.
It would be a repudiation of Johnson?s attempt to reinvent JC Penney, which had already been struggling before he left Apple to take the helm at the retailer.
With Johnson as CEO, the company set out to transform itself into a series of shops within a store and rebrand itself into "America's favorite store" as part of a multi-year makeover. Analysts said, however, that the private-label brands carried little to no meaning in today?s market.
"We are convinced JC Penney needs a compelling way forward ? but what that is remains to be seen," they said. "Johnson's path of aspiring to a new shopper did not work, but JC Penney struggled to stabilize sales before Johnson's arrival."
In the process of going after a new customer base, the company also lost touch with its core customer and saw its same-store sales nose dive 25 percent last year. Same-store sales measure sales at stores open more than a year and are considered more accurate because they smooth out wrinkles caused by the hype and excitement after a new store opens. Its share price also shed about half its value and the company recently reported a $552 million quarterly loss.
In a tough economic environment where consumers have been pinching every penny, Johnson?s plan backfired and competitors pounced on the opportunity.
Telsey said for JC Penney to succeed, it would have to lure its core customers back ? a move that she said is possible.
"You're not going to get back all the sales you lost, but you can certainly make improvements on what you have," she said.
Ullman, who served as JC Penney?s CEO for almost seven years until 2011, returns to Penney roughly one third of the way into its transition to a shops-within-a-store model, a transition that "has thus far displayed only scant evidence of success," Oppenheimer analysts said.
Looking ahead, analysts expect Ullman to continue with the transformation of Penney's home goods section, which includes 33 shops by May, but to examine plans after this and possibly slow the conversion rate to conserve cash.
It's noteworthy that Ullman, rather than Johnson, was the first to introduce the shop-in-shops concept when he partnered with Sephora in 2006 and MNG by Mango four years later.
To cut costs amid flagging sales, Johnson turned to widespread layoffs during his tenure, a move that Citigroup analysts said reduced morale at the retailer. Boosting this morale, along with recruiting talent, are two priorities for Ullman, Citigroup analysts added.
"We believe Mike will tap his retail Rolodex and past JC Penney management to bring back department store talent the organization," they said while also fostering internal talent.
CNBC's Katie Little contributed to this report.
Related:Third JC Penney makeover: Ousting Ron Johnson
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Kobe Bryant looked around, drew in a breath and gathered himself. Time for one of the game's best closers to get to work with the score tied to start the fourth quarter.
He fueled a desperate rally with 23 of his 30 points in the last 12 minutes, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Hornets 104-96 on Tuesday night to keep their playoff hopes alive.
"Aw ... I got to go in again and I really didn't want to," Bryant said he was thinking. "It's about conserving energy. The more I can kind of lag in the weeds the better."
But that depends on his teammates.
"If you're making shots, I can sit back," Bryant said. "If you're playing (bad), I can't."
No Laker but Bryant made a shot in the first seven minutes of the fourth. He had just four points at halftime.
"It is really just about me making shots. It is not really the defense," said Bryant, who had ice on his left shoulder and both knees after the game. "They keyed in on my penetration, but I know I could range over the defense and get the shot. So, with games like this, when the jumper is falling, you have fourth quarters like I had."
Pau Gasol had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Dwight Howard added 19 points to help the Lakers move a half-game ahead of Utah for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot. The Jazz lost to Oklahoma City 90-80 earlier in the evening, but they hold the tiebreaker over the Lakers.
"We were pretty effective wearing down their bigs, especially late in the game," Howard said. "We just needed this game. It was intense. We got four games left. We control our own destiny."
Bryant urged Gasol to position himself down low where he's most effective and stay put.
"I haven't gotten to the post as much as I did tonight all year long," he said. "My teammates looked for me."
Eric Gordon scored 22 points, making 10 of 11 free throws, before fouling out in the final seconds to lead five Hornets in double figures. Anthony Davis added 18 points and 14 rebounds, Ryan Anderson had 14 points, and Greivis Vasquez had 11 points and 11 assists.
Metta World Peace returned for the Lakers less than two weeks after undergoing left knee surgery and had four points in 15 minutes as they won their third in a row at home.
Bryant put on his usual show in the fourth quarter that began with the teams tied at 70-all. He scored the Lakers' first seven points for a 77-70 lead, drawing chants of "Kobe! Kobe!"
"I knew I needed to be aggressive," he said. "Our energy had been down all game."
The Hornets ran off six in a row to take an 82-80 lead. Bryant answered with two straight jumpers before Davis' basket tied the game for the last time at 84-all.
From there, the Hornets were outscored 20-12.
"We had multiple guys doubling him and he just made smart plays," Anderson said of Bryant.
Hornets coach Monty Williams said, "You could put Saran Wrap on Kobe and I don't know if that's going to change anything."
Antawn Jamison, who finished with 13 points, scored five in a row for an 89-84 lead. But Bryant kept the Lakers going with another five straight, including a steal of Gordon that he capped with a fast-break driving finger roll.
"He had a lot of tough shots to get him going," Gordon said of Bryant. "Whenever you hit a few in a row it's almost hard to stop. He had a lot of tough shots and when he gets to the free throw line, it's a whole different ballgame."
The Hornets led by six early in a back-and-forth third that ended in a 70-all tie. Gasol scored six straight points to pull the Lakers into the first tie of the quarter. Davis picked up his fourth foul for the Hornets, and Howard got called for his fourth late in the third.
Jamison and Bryant hit back-to-back 3-pointers for the Lakers only to have Brian Roberts tie it up on a running finger roll.
The Lakers led by 10 points in the second quarter when the Hornets closed on a 17-2 run, including 14 in a row, to lead 50-45 at the break. Gordon scored 13 of their points, including the first six.
NOTES: Lakers F Earl Clark was in a car accident after morning shootaround, but he wasn't hurt and didn't want to discuss it before the game. ... The Lakers have swept the last three season series with the Hornets, and have won the last five season series overall. ... The Lakers play at Portland on Wednesday. They are 5-10 in the second game of back-to-backs this season, and have yet to go 2-0 in a set of back-to-backs. ... The Hornets are 1-3 on their five-game Western trip that ends on Wednesday at Sacramento. ... Lakers G Steve Nash missed his fourth straight game with a hamstring injury. ... Former Laker Gary Payton, who made the basketball Hall of Fame this week, attended the game.
By Daniel Arkin, Mark Stevenson and John Newland, NBC News
A Denver sheriff?s deputy has been arrested in connection with the escape of a prisoner who walked out of the county jail Sunday night wearing a deputy?s uniform and possibly carrying a gun, according to local reports.
Police have identified the deputy as Matthew Andrews, a two-year veteran of the sheriff?s department, NBC affiliate 9News reported. Andrews, who was arrested late Sunday, stands accused of helping Felix Dino Trujillo, 24, escape Denver County Jail at about 7 p.m. MT that evening, according to the station.
Trujillo remained at large Monday afternoon.
?Felix Trujillo may be armed and should be considered extremely dangerous,? the sheriff?s office said in a statement.
Trujillo had been jailed on charges of aggravated robbery and a parole violation, according to information obtained from the jail?s inmate database.
He was being held on $75,000 bond and was slated to appear in Denver District Court on May 13, according to court records.
This story was originally published on Mon Apr 8, 2013 1:50 AM EDT
While visiting, and judging, the Photo Hack Day at Facebook headquarters yesterday, one of the more than 60 hacks presented in a two-minute format was iMaze. The team that put it together in just a little over a day was comprised of developers, some of whom were high-school students, and it ended up being one of the most polished apps coming out of the hackathon. With Aviary and Facebook putting on the event, some really cool things came out of it, but iMaze is one that just flat-out stuck with me. It’s simple: It turns your favorite photos into a maze. Once the maze is created, you can either make your way through it yourself or challenge your friend over the web in a real-time speed-test. Before we get to the app itself, the team geekily put together some stats on what went into making iMaze: 5 People 24 Hours 1304mg of Caffine 1,492 Lines of Code 194 GitHub Commits 12,920 Calories 3 APIs Impressive. Now to iMaze. Since you probably have a ton of photos on your computer or tossed about all over the web, iMaze uses Filepicker.io to let you pull in photos from Dropbox, Facebook, Flickr, Google Drive, Google Photos, Instagram or of course your machine. Once you upload the photo, you can use Aviary to edit it down before it’s turned into an interactive maze game that changes each time you upload a photo. Pick single player or invite a friend, and then compete with them in real-time. Now you’re ready to compete in getting all the way through this ZuckMaze by dragging the line with your mouse: Considering that this was a hack put together in a day, it’s pretty fun and well-designed. The iMaze team won third place overall, but I hope that they keep working on it, because it would be a fun Facebook game and app. Once in a while, I enjoy playing hangman or Tic Tac Toe, not because I’m a gamer, but because I like doing something while I chat with my friends. Considering that these mazes are built on top of your photos, it’s a nice way to reuse images from the past and start a fun discussion with your closest pals.
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) ? Filmmaker Les Blank, whose documentaries on blues musicians and a range of other subjects won acclaim, has died at age 77.
Harrod Blank says his father, whose 42 films earned him a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute, died of cancer Sunday at his home in Berkeley, Calif.
Blank's early films focused on musicians, including 1960s portraits of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and blues guitarist Lightnin' Hopkins.
He shifted to food with documentaries like 1980's "Garlic is as Good as 10 Mothers" and 2007's "All in This Tea."
But Blank's best-known work was on fellow filmmaker Werner Herzog, including 1982's "Burden of Dreams," where Blank's behind-the-scenes view of the making of Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" in the Peru became a classic chronicle of artistic obsession.
Apr. 9, 2013 ? The 'Mongolian Death Worm', called olgoi-khorkhoi by the local population is a legendary animal with an unconfirmed existence that has preoccupied the imagination of the inhabitants and travelers in the region. It is said to inhabit the southern Gobi Desert where it terrorizes travelers with its deadly abilities to project acid that, upon contact, turns anything it touches yellow and corroded.
Two new sub-species of earthworms, Eisenia nordenskioldi mongol and E. n. onon, are reported from the same region. Although neither of them possesses the fatal characteristics of olgoi-khorkhoi, the sibling species exhibit the ability to partly regrow body parts when cut in two. Relatives of the sub-species are found in habitats as diverse as high mountains, deserts and geothermal hot-springs. They demonstrate extreme temperature tolerances and survival ranges thriving in environments from as little as -30?C up to +40?C.
E. nordenskioldi mongol has its name derived from the region of discovery. The name E. n. onon bears more romantic connotations, being inspired by the Onon River in Outer Mongolia, where Genghis Khan was born and grew up. The region is also supposed to be the resting place of this historical figure that inspires stories of great conquests, victories and brutality.
Earthworms as a group organisms have other more tangible, importance from an ecological point of view. Charles Darwin, for example, spent 50 years of his working life studying these humble worms. They are key organisms for monitoring and maintaining soil fertility. Earthworms are also the basis of food-chains as the Early-bird and any fishermen knows.
Whether olgoi-khorkhoi really exists, and whether the two new sub-species of the Siberian E. nordenskioldi species-complex are in any way related to it, is yet to be
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Pensoft Publishers. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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Journal Reference:
Robert Blakemore. Earthworms newly from Mongolia (Oligochaeta,?Lumbricidae, Eisenia). ZooKeys, 2013; 285 (0): 1 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.285.4502
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This is shaping up to be a banner year for SSD adoption. The Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S3D7 we reviewed recently won accolades for an excellent price/performance ratio, but the Mushkin 120GB Chronos Deluxe ($105 list) aims to challenge Kingston for the title. The Mushkin 120GB Chronos Deluxe offers even higher performance than the V300 at virtually the same price point. That's actually a bit surprising given how much the two drives have in common. They're both 120GB drives that use SandForce's older SF-2281 controller. They both support SATA 3.0 and a maximum 6Gbps transfer rate. Mushkin claims a mean time before failure (MTBF) of two million hours, while the Kingston's V300 is just one million, but these statistics don't map very well to real-world failure rates, regardless.
Despite their common technological heritage, Mushkin and Kingston quote rather different performance figures. Kingston claims sequential read/write speeds of 450MBps, while Mushkin states the Chronos Deluxe should hit 560MBps sequential read and 515MBps sequential write.
Right now, the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120GB is a bit more expensive than the Kingston drive (it lists as $104.99 at NewEgg, as compared to $102.99 for the Kingston V300). It is, however, also slightly faster. Both of these drives use synchronous rather than asynchronous flash (asynchronous flash is cheaper, but also slower as it relies on an external clock chip). The Mushkin drive uses NAND built on a 25nm process while the V300 uses Toshiba's newest 19nm multi-level cell (MLC) memory.
We compared the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe to the Kingston V300 with a high-end OCZ Vector 256GB tossed in for good measure. The Vector is considerably more expensive than either of the two budget drives; it's included here to illustrate the performance difference between low and high-end SSDs. Our review unit was tested using an Asus P877V-Deluxe motherboard with 8GB of DDR3-1600 and an Intel Core i7-3770K CPU. The P877-V Deluxe offers multiple SATA controllers from Intel and Marvell; the V300 was connected to Intel's 6G SATA port.
The performance figures for AS-SSD and SiSoft Sandra reflect a drive's performance in a particular type of data workload. Sequential read/write tests measure an SSD's capabilities when reading or writing a large block of contiguous data. A single large movie or ISO image will test a drive's sequential performance (assuming that the target drive isn't badly fragmented). In the synthetic AS-SSD test, the OCZ Vector, Chronos Deluxe, and Kingston V300 were all close to each other in sequential read tests, with scores of 509MBps, 471.5MBps, and 466MBps, respectively. The Kingston V300 fell well behind the Chronos Deluxe in sequential write performance (263.28MBps compared to 163MBps), but the OCZ Vector was faster than both drives combined, at 495.72MBps.
The 4K read/write tests ascertain the performance of an SSD or HDD when reading and writing small chunks of data. These small read/writes are vital to the everyday performance of a storage solution. The "64 Threads" test in AS-SSD means that the benchmark program spins off 64 separate 4K read/write tasks. This stretches the controller's ability to manage such workloads, but also provides a more realistic performance metric?an operating system is constantly reading and writing data to multiple services and programs simultaneously. The 4K read/write performance with 64-threads enabled showed a similar pattern to the AS-SSD test. The Chronos Deluxe outpaced the Kingston V300 at 181MBps read/215MBps write, as compared to 116MBps read/153MBps write for the Kingston drive. Again, the OCZ Vector is far faster at 358MBps and 303 MBps, respectively.
The random read/write performance data from SiSoft Sandra is a measure of a drive's sustained performance when reading and writing a contiguous block of information to a randomly chosen location. These metrics are important because they collectively measure the different types of storage tasks an SSD or HDD performs, even if they don't represent user workloads. SiSoft Sandra 2013's random read/write tests again show the OCZ Vector, Kingston V300, and Chronos Deluxe performing similarly in random reads (531MBps, 487MBps and 507MBps respectively), but quite differently in writes. The Chronos Deluxe's 276MBps write speed was much faster than the Kingston V300's 177MBps rate, while the OCZ Vector broke 500MBps in the same test.
PCMark 7 is a different type of test. The test uses real storage workloads created by recording traces of hard drive activity when playing games, loading music or video, or copying files. These traces are used to measure the performance of storage products in comprehensive real-world scenarios. The OCZ Vector scored a 5419 in PCMark 7's storage tests, compared to a 5,164 for the Kingston V300 and 5,244 for the Chronos Deluxe. These figures indicate that every day users won't see much difference between the three devices. If you work with large files or particular types of data transfer, products like the Vector still offer significant advantages.
Overall, the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120GB is a great option. The Vector is the fastest drive overall, but for bargain-conscious customers, Mushkin has a great product. The Kingston V300 is still a good drive?t won an Editors' Choice award for budget SSDs?but if the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe is any indication, we'll see a quick succession of prime SSDs at consumer-friendly price points over the next few months.
Michael Shapiro isn't the sort of person I'd expect to circumvent the gatekeepers of traditional journalism. He's a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism, and he said he's been published in The New Yorker, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, and Sports Illustrated ? in other other words, he seems to be on pretty good terms with those gatekeepers. Yet Shapiro is launching a new journalism startup called The Big Roundtable. The reason? He said that there are a lot of untested assumptions in the journalism world. As a parallel, he pointed to book publishing, where he said it was long believed that "black people don't buy books." There was, in fact, "this whole sub rosa world" of independent black book stores, with its own bestsellers like Iceberg Slim's Pimp: The Story Of My Life. Yet traditional publishers had no idea that world existed until the mainstream success of writers like Terry McMillan in the 1990s.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and his family walked to church on Sunday for Easter services across from the White House.
Wishing "Happy Easter" to onlookers, Obama, his wife Michelle, and their daughters Malia and Sasha, strolled through a park to St. John's Church, where they have attended services before.
Their presence at the nearby Episcopal church had not been announced in advance, and the minister, Rev. Dr. Luis Leon, admonished some gawking and picture-taking churchgoers during the service to return to their seats.
Leon used his sermon to encourage parishoners to look forward and not be stuck in the past, and he added a political edge with criticism of some right-leaning conservative Christians.
"The captains of the religious right are always calling us back, back, back," he said. "For blacks to be back in the back of the bus, for women to be back in the kitchen, for gays to be in the closet, and for ... immigrants to be on their side of the border," he said.
Obama has made immigration reform a goal of his second term, and the themes of women's equality and gay marriage were major issues during his 2012 re-election campaign.
After the service, braving a light rain, the Obama family walked under umbrellas back to the White House.
The Obamas have not joined a church since moving to Washington from Chicago in 2009. They have visited a handful of churches in the city but do not attend regularly.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; editing by Christopher Wilson)
Mary Owen, 23, was found with some injuries and frostbite.
By KGW.com staff
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. -- Mary Owen, a 23-year-old woman who disappeared after going hiking alone on Mount Hood, was found alive on Sandy Glacier by a National Guard Helicopter Saturday morning, officials said.
Owen was reportedly taken by helicopter to Legacy Emanuel Hospital with some injuries and frostbite, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.?
Owen was found after a second day of searching by rescue teams from around the area. She was reported missing at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, according to Deputy Bryon O'Neil of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. She had written in an email to a friend Sunday that she planned to go hiking, but had not been heard from since then.?
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Deputies called Timberline Lodge Thursday and the manager on duty said Owen's vehicle, a white 1998 Toyota 4-Runner was parked in the lot, O'Neil said. Investigators said the vehicle looked like it had been parked there for some time.?
"Ms. Owen's backpack is still in her vehicle so she may be short on supplies," O'Neil said. "She is an experienced hiker who has in the past hiked the Pacific Coast Trail from Mexico to Canada."?
Anyone who may have seen her since Saturday was asked to call CCSO at (503) 655-8211 or send an email to Sergeant Sean Collinson.?
??Keith Urban performs on 'American Idol' Keith Urban talks with AccessHollywood.com's Laura Saltman about why the judges didn't save Devin Velez from elimination on "American Idol." Plus, he tells The Dish how nervous he was to perform in front of the other judges.
LITHOSPHERE covers Canada, California, the Alps, and the Scandinavian CaledonidesPublic release date: 29-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA - The April 2013 issue of Lithosphere is now available. Four classic research papers cover the Saint Elias Mountains of Yukon and British Columbia, Canada; the Nacimiento fault near San Simeon, California, USA; the western Alps; and the Caledonides in Scandinavia. An invited review relays the significance of dynamic topography to long-term sea level change. This month's research focus article, which is open access online, discusses the revolution in remote sensing-LiDAR-laser altimetry swath mapping.
Abstracts are online at http://lithosphere.gsapubs.org/content/current. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of LITHOSPHERE articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to LITHOSPHERE in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Detrital zircon Hf isotopic compositions indicate a northern Caledonian connection for the Alexander terrane
L. Beranek et al., Stockholm University, Geological Sciences, Svante Arrhenius vg 8, Stockholm, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 19 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L255.1.
Earth's plate tectonic history during the Silurian and Devonian periods, approx. 400 million years ago, was dominated by the closure of the Iapetus Ocean and subsequent continent-continent collision between Laurentia (ancestral North America) and Baltica (ancestral northern Europe). This collision led to the rise of the Appalachian-Caledonian Mountains and the assembly of supercontinent Laurussia. To test ancient stratigraphic connections between the northern Caledonian mountains of Laurussia and crustal fragments now located in the North American Cordillera, Luke Beranek and colleagues acquired new analytical data from Silurian and Devonian sedimentary rocks of the Alexander terrane in the Saint Elias Mountains of Yukon and British Columbia, Canada. Their datasets indicate that terrestrial and shallow-marine rocks of the Alexander terrane, including distinctive red-bed sandstones, were sourced from northern Caledonian granitoids and are analogous to sedimentary units of the Old Red Sandstone in the present-day North Atlantic region. These data have major ramifications not only for the paleogeography and displacement history of the Alexander terrane, but also the proposed Caledonian affinities of other terranes in the North American Cordillera that underlie much of Alaska, British Columbia, and western United States.
Kinematic analysis of mlange fabrics in the Franciscan Complex near San Simeon, California: Evidence for sinistral slip on the Nacimiento fault zone?
J. Singleton, Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, USA; and M. Cloos, Dept. of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 USA. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 19 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L259.1.
A controversial topic in California geology is the tectonic significance of the Nacimiento fault, a major structure that was active approximately 75 to 60 million years ago during subduction of oceanic crust beneath California. This fault juxtaposes granitic rocks similar to the Sierra Nevada batholith on the northeast side of the fault (the Salinian block) against rocks that formed within a subduction zone on the southwest side of the fault (the Franciscan Complex). Most previous studies have interpreted the Nacimiento fault either as (a) a left-lateral strike-slip fault along which the Salinian block granitic rocks moved 500-600 km northwestward with respect to the Franciscan Complex rocks; or (b) a thrust fault along which the Salinian block rocks were displaced more than 100 km southwestward over the Franciscan rocks. This study by John Singleton and Mark Cloos presents new structural data from Franciscan Complex rocks exposed along beach cliffs near San Simeon, California. These rocks have undergone left-lateral shearing parallel to the Nacimiento fault. Singleton and Cloos suggest this shearing was related to movement on the Nacimiento fault, supporting the tectonic interpretation of the Nacimiento fault as a major left-lateral structure.
Short-lived fast erosional exhumation of the internal Western Alps during the late Early Oligocene: constraints from geo-thermochronology of pro- and retro-side foreland basin sediments S. Jourdan et al., ISTerre, Grenoble, 38110, France. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 25 Feb. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L243.1.
The Oligocene is a key period in the evolution of the western Alps during which the mountain belt evolved from an accretionary wedge (Late Cretaceous to Eocene) to a relatively high-elevation mountain belt, similar to the central Alps today. Studying the sediments and sedimentary rocks deposited in basins adjacent to this mountain belt helps in reconstructing the orogenic evolution. During this period, relatively fast erosion is seen as a result of rapid surface uplift coupled with increasing orographic precipitation during this phase of orogenesis. Surface uplift may have been caused and sustained by different plate-tectonic processes such as a change in convergence direction, intermediate-depth slab breakoff, and emplacement of the Ivrea body during continental collision. The occurrence of contemporaneous volcanic activity on the pro-side of the western Alps on the subducting European plate between 36 and 30 million years ago is seen in connection with slab rollback of the Apennine slab and upwelling of hot mantle material beneath the western Alps.
Subduction along and within the Baltoscandian margin during the closing of the Iapetus Ocean and Baltica-Laurentia collision D. Gee et al., Uppsala University, Earth Sciences, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 19 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L220.1.
There are few places in the world where it is possible to trace a hot allochthon for 200 km across a continental margin, demonstrate its lateral displacement to have been more than twice this distance, infer that it was generated in an outer-margin subduction system during the final stages of ocean closure, and show that emplacement onto the platform occurred during subsequent continent collision. As a result of good exposure in the Scandian mountain belt and erosion to middle-crustal levels, the Caledonides in Scandinavia provide one of the best opportunities on the planet to study these aspects of mountain building.
INVITED REVIEW ARTICLE A review of observations and models of dynamic topography N. Flament et al., The University of Sydney, School of Geoscience, Madsen Building F09, Room 416, Eastern Avenue, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 4 Feb. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L245.1.
It has been known since the early 1960s that moving tectonic plates shape the Earth's surface, forming mountain belts and rift valleys. In addition to this tectonic topography, the more subtle deformation of the Earth's surface due to mantle flow in the Earth's interior, called dynamic topography, has been an active research topic since the mid-1980s. Dynamic topography has received increased interest over the last few years because it challenged the well-established view that long-term sea level change can be deduced from the rock record of "stable" continental shelves. In this review article, Nicolas Flament and colleagues show that there is good agreement between long-wavelength (greater than 5,000 km) observations and models of dynamic topography. Their work confirms the significance of dynamic topography to long-term sea level change and reinforces that comparing the predictions of mantle flow models to the geological record constrains the physical properties of the mantle. Larger data sets and increasing computing power will enable progress in this field in the coming years.
RESEARCH FOCUS ARTICLE Active tectonics and LiDAR revolution A. Meigs, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, 104 CEOAS Administration Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA. Issue: April 2013; free access at http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/RF.L004.1.
A revolution in remote sensing, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) laser altimetry swath mapping, reveals the details of topographic features at such high resolution that they have transformed our understanding of tectonic forcing of the shape of the Earth's surface. Meter-scale DEMs (digital elevation models) capture fault offsets, fault zone structure, off-fault deformation, and landscape properties at microgeomorphic scale, highlighting that the surface faithfully records the complexity and sensitivity of deformation in detail.
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LITHOSPHERE covers Canada, California, the Alps, and the Scandinavian CaledonidesPublic release date: 29-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA - The April 2013 issue of Lithosphere is now available. Four classic research papers cover the Saint Elias Mountains of Yukon and British Columbia, Canada; the Nacimiento fault near San Simeon, California, USA; the western Alps; and the Caledonides in Scandinavia. An invited review relays the significance of dynamic topography to long-term sea level change. This month's research focus article, which is open access online, discusses the revolution in remote sensing-LiDAR-laser altimetry swath mapping.
Abstracts are online at http://lithosphere.gsapubs.org/content/current. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of LITHOSPHERE articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to LITHOSPHERE in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Detrital zircon Hf isotopic compositions indicate a northern Caledonian connection for the Alexander terrane
L. Beranek et al., Stockholm University, Geological Sciences, Svante Arrhenius vg 8, Stockholm, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 19 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L255.1.
Earth's plate tectonic history during the Silurian and Devonian periods, approx. 400 million years ago, was dominated by the closure of the Iapetus Ocean and subsequent continent-continent collision between Laurentia (ancestral North America) and Baltica (ancestral northern Europe). This collision led to the rise of the Appalachian-Caledonian Mountains and the assembly of supercontinent Laurussia. To test ancient stratigraphic connections between the northern Caledonian mountains of Laurussia and crustal fragments now located in the North American Cordillera, Luke Beranek and colleagues acquired new analytical data from Silurian and Devonian sedimentary rocks of the Alexander terrane in the Saint Elias Mountains of Yukon and British Columbia, Canada. Their datasets indicate that terrestrial and shallow-marine rocks of the Alexander terrane, including distinctive red-bed sandstones, were sourced from northern Caledonian granitoids and are analogous to sedimentary units of the Old Red Sandstone in the present-day North Atlantic region. These data have major ramifications not only for the paleogeography and displacement history of the Alexander terrane, but also the proposed Caledonian affinities of other terranes in the North American Cordillera that underlie much of Alaska, British Columbia, and western United States.
Kinematic analysis of mlange fabrics in the Franciscan Complex near San Simeon, California: Evidence for sinistral slip on the Nacimiento fault zone?
J. Singleton, Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, USA; and M. Cloos, Dept. of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 USA. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 19 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L259.1.
A controversial topic in California geology is the tectonic significance of the Nacimiento fault, a major structure that was active approximately 75 to 60 million years ago during subduction of oceanic crust beneath California. This fault juxtaposes granitic rocks similar to the Sierra Nevada batholith on the northeast side of the fault (the Salinian block) against rocks that formed within a subduction zone on the southwest side of the fault (the Franciscan Complex). Most previous studies have interpreted the Nacimiento fault either as (a) a left-lateral strike-slip fault along which the Salinian block granitic rocks moved 500-600 km northwestward with respect to the Franciscan Complex rocks; or (b) a thrust fault along which the Salinian block rocks were displaced more than 100 km southwestward over the Franciscan rocks. This study by John Singleton and Mark Cloos presents new structural data from Franciscan Complex rocks exposed along beach cliffs near San Simeon, California. These rocks have undergone left-lateral shearing parallel to the Nacimiento fault. Singleton and Cloos suggest this shearing was related to movement on the Nacimiento fault, supporting the tectonic interpretation of the Nacimiento fault as a major left-lateral structure.
Short-lived fast erosional exhumation of the internal Western Alps during the late Early Oligocene: constraints from geo-thermochronology of pro- and retro-side foreland basin sediments S. Jourdan et al., ISTerre, Grenoble, 38110, France. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 25 Feb. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L243.1.
The Oligocene is a key period in the evolution of the western Alps during which the mountain belt evolved from an accretionary wedge (Late Cretaceous to Eocene) to a relatively high-elevation mountain belt, similar to the central Alps today. Studying the sediments and sedimentary rocks deposited in basins adjacent to this mountain belt helps in reconstructing the orogenic evolution. During this period, relatively fast erosion is seen as a result of rapid surface uplift coupled with increasing orographic precipitation during this phase of orogenesis. Surface uplift may have been caused and sustained by different plate-tectonic processes such as a change in convergence direction, intermediate-depth slab breakoff, and emplacement of the Ivrea body during continental collision. The occurrence of contemporaneous volcanic activity on the pro-side of the western Alps on the subducting European plate between 36 and 30 million years ago is seen in connection with slab rollback of the Apennine slab and upwelling of hot mantle material beneath the western Alps.
Subduction along and within the Baltoscandian margin during the closing of the Iapetus Ocean and Baltica-Laurentia collision D. Gee et al., Uppsala University, Earth Sciences, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 19 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L220.1.
There are few places in the world where it is possible to trace a hot allochthon for 200 km across a continental margin, demonstrate its lateral displacement to have been more than twice this distance, infer that it was generated in an outer-margin subduction system during the final stages of ocean closure, and show that emplacement onto the platform occurred during subsequent continent collision. As a result of good exposure in the Scandian mountain belt and erosion to middle-crustal levels, the Caledonides in Scandinavia provide one of the best opportunities on the planet to study these aspects of mountain building.
INVITED REVIEW ARTICLE A review of observations and models of dynamic topography N. Flament et al., The University of Sydney, School of Geoscience, Madsen Building F09, Room 416, Eastern Avenue, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Issue: April 2013. Originally posted online 4 Feb. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L245.1.
It has been known since the early 1960s that moving tectonic plates shape the Earth's surface, forming mountain belts and rift valleys. In addition to this tectonic topography, the more subtle deformation of the Earth's surface due to mantle flow in the Earth's interior, called dynamic topography, has been an active research topic since the mid-1980s. Dynamic topography has received increased interest over the last few years because it challenged the well-established view that long-term sea level change can be deduced from the rock record of "stable" continental shelves. In this review article, Nicolas Flament and colleagues show that there is good agreement between long-wavelength (greater than 5,000 km) observations and models of dynamic topography. Their work confirms the significance of dynamic topography to long-term sea level change and reinforces that comparing the predictions of mantle flow models to the geological record constrains the physical properties of the mantle. Larger data sets and increasing computing power will enable progress in this field in the coming years.
RESEARCH FOCUS ARTICLE Active tectonics and LiDAR revolution A. Meigs, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, 104 CEOAS Administration Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA. Issue: April 2013; free access at http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/RF.L004.1.
A revolution in remote sensing, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) laser altimetry swath mapping, reveals the details of topographic features at such high resolution that they have transformed our understanding of tectonic forcing of the shape of the Earth's surface. Meter-scale DEMs (digital elevation models) capture fault offsets, fault zone structure, off-fault deformation, and landscape properties at microgeomorphic scale, highlighting that the surface faithfully records the complexity and sensitivity of deformation in detail.
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Researchers at Panasonic's imaging division have found a way to increase the sensitivity of digital camera sensors, which in turn equates to almost double the brightness in photos taken in low light conditions. But the discovery has nothing to do with the sensor itself; instead, the company's improved the color processing filter placed in front of it. More »
WASHINGTON (AP) ? More than 4 out of 5 Americans want to prepare now for rising seas and stronger storms from climate change, a new national survey says. But most are unwilling to keep spending money to restore and protect stricken beaches.
The poll by Stanford University released Thursday found that only 1 in 3 people favored the government spending millions to construct big sea walls, replenish beaches or pay people to leave the coast.
This was the first time a large national poll looked at how Americans feel about adapting to the changes brought on by global warming, said survey director Jon Krosnick, a professor of political science and psychology at Stanford.
The more indirect options the majority preferred were making sure new buildings were stronger and reducing future coastal development. New building codes rated the highest with 62 percent of those surveyed favoring it.
Three in 5 people want those who are directly affected by rising seas to pay for protection, rather than all taxpayers.
Krosnick said the low favorability of sea walls and sand replenishment "reflect the public's fatalistic sense that it's more realistic to just give up the beach than to try to save it when other storms in the future will just wash it away again."
The nationally representative survey of 1,174 Americans conducted online by GfK Custom Research has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
University of Miami geology professor Harold Wanless, who wasn't involved in the survey, said he was at a Miami Beach meeting on Thursday with business and political leaders on how to try to keep from losing their "hugely expensive" land. But they are afraid of spending money in vain attempts that won't work.
There are three ways the public can deal with the effects of rising seas on beaches, said coastal geology professor S. Jeffress Williams of the University of Hawaii. He is an expert on sea level rise and methods of adapting to it. You can "hold the line" with expensive sea walls, retreat and leave the beach, or compromise with sand dunes and beach replenishing.
Sand dunes helped protect the New Jersey town of Seaside Park more than its dune-less neighbor Seaside Heights when Superstorm Sandy hit last fall, said Laurie Mcgilvray, a government coastline science expert.
Williams said the public's attitude about not doing much to protect current beach development would be fine if it were 100 years ago. "But we've got tremendous trillions of dollars of a tourist economy that depends on the coast.
"You should expect that if you are going to use the coast, you need to put some money in to maintain it," he said.
But people surveyed said money is an issue.
When it came to the general question of who should pay to protect the coast, 60 percent of the public said it should be paid for by local property owners and businesses, not the general taxpayers. And when it comes to specific solutions, about 80 percent of those surveyed said the money should come from local property taxes, not federal or state income taxes.
Nearly half, 47 percent, said the government should prohibit people from rebuilding structures damaged by storms.
The survey also found that 82 percent of the public believes global warming is already happening. About 3 out of 4 people said rising sea levels caused by global warming is a serious problem.
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Online:
Stanford study: http://stanford.io/16kTvKo
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Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Internet search leader Google is taking another step beyond information retrieval into grocery delivery.
The new service, called Google Shopping Express, will initially provide same-day delivery of food and other products bought online by a small group of consumers in San Francisco and suburbs located south of the city. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., didn't say how many people will be part of the test.
If the pilot program goes well, Google Inc. plans to expand delivery service to other markets.
"We hope this will help users explore the benefits of a local, same-day delivery service, and help us kick the tires on the new service," Google said in a Thursday statement.
The delivery service is part of Google's effort to increase consumer reliance on the Internet, so it will have more opportunities to show online ads, which generate most of its revenue.
Google has learned that the more time people spend online, the more likely they are to use its dominant search engine or one of its other popular services, like its YouTube video site or Gmail, that include advertising.
The delivery service also could spur merchants to buy more online ads if Google's same-day delivery service encourages consumers to do more of their shopping online. Having to wait days or, in some cases, more than a week for the delivery of online orders ranks among the biggest drawbacks to Internet shopping.
It's a problem that Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc., which operate the largest e-commerce sites, already have been trying to solve by offering same-day service in some U.S. markets. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, also offers same-day delivery in five markets.
A mix of national, regional and neighborhood merchants are enlisting in Google Shopping Express. The best-known names on the list include Target Inc. and Walgreen Co. All the merchants in the Google program will sell certain items through a central website. Google has hired courier services to pick up the orders at the merchant stores and then deliver them to the customer's home or office.
Although the couriers will be working on a contract basis, they will be driving Google trucks and wearing company-issued uniforms.
It remains unclear whether Internet shopping and same-day delivery can be profitable. Online grocer Webvan collapsed in 2001, largely because it couldn't devise a pricing plan that would pay for the costs of same-day delivery without alienating shoppers unwilling to pay too much extra for the added convenience.
Google is still trying to figure out how much to charge for its same-day delivery service. For the six-month test period in the San Francisco area, consumers won't have to pay a surcharge. Google instead will receive a commission from participating merchants.
The expansion into same-day delivery comes at the same time that Google is preparing to close some of its older online services so it can devote more attention and money to other projects.
The realignment has irked some Google users. The biggest complaints have centered on Google Reader, which allows people to automatically receive headlines and links from their favorite sites, and iGoogle, which allows Web surfers to design a page consisting of the Google search engine surrounded set up other online features, such as local weather reports and stock market quotes.
Google Reader is scheduled to close in July and iGoogle will shut down in November.
Google shares fell $8.47 to close at $794.19 on Thursday.
Mar. 14, 2013 ? A team of astronomers, including Quinn Konopacky of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, has made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-like planet beyond our Solar System.
According to Konopacky, "We have been able to observe this planet in unprecedented detail because of the advanced instrumentation we are using on the Keck II telescope, our ground-breaking observing and data-processing techniques, and because of the nature of the planetary system."
Konopacky is lead author of the paper describing the team's findings, to be published March 14th in Science Express, and March 22nd in the journal Science.
The team, using a high-resolution imaging spectrograph called OSIRIS, uncovered the chemical fingerprints of specific molecules, revealing a cloudy atmosphere containing carbon monoxide and water vapour. "With this level of detail," says Travis Barman, a Lowell Observatory astronomer and co-author of the paper, "we can compare the amount of carbon to the amount of oxygen present in the planet's atmosphere, and this chemical mix provides clues as to how the entire planetary system formed."
There has been considerable uncertainty about how systems of planets form, with two leading models, called core accretion and gravitational instability. Planetary properties, such as the composition of a planet's atmosphere, are clues as to whether a system formed according to one model or the other.
"This is the sharpest spectrum ever obtained of an extrasolar planet," according to co-author Bruce Macintosh of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "This shows the power of directly imaging a planetary system. It is the exquisite resolution afforded by these new observations that has allowed us to really begin to probe planet formation."
The spectrum reveals that the carbon to oxygen ratio is consistent with the core accretion scenario, the model thought to explain the formation of our Solar System.
The planet, designated HR 8799c, is one of four gas giants known to orbit a star 130 light-years from Earth. The authors and their collaborators previously discovered HR 8799c and its three companions back in 2008 and 2010. All the planets are larger than any in our Solar System, with masses three to seven times that of Jupiter. Their orbits are similarly large when compared to our system. HR 8799c orbits 40 times farther from its parent star than Earth orbits from the Sun; in our Solar System, that would put it well beyond the realm of Neptune.
According to the core accretion model, the star HR 8799 was originally surrounded by nothing but a huge disk of gas and dust. As the gas cooled, ice formed; this process depleted the disk of oxygen atoms. Ice and dust collected into planetary cores which, once they were large enough, attracted surrounding gas to form large atmospheres. The gas was depleted of oxygen, and this is reflected in the planet's atmosphere today as an enhanced carbon to oxygen ratio.
The core accretion model also predicts that large gas giant planets form at great distances from the central star, and smaller rocky planets closer in, as in our Solar System. It is rocky planets, not too far, nor close to the star, that are prime candidates for supporting life.
"The results suggest the HR 8799 system is like a scaled-up Solar System," says Konopacky. "And so, in addition to the gas giants far from their parent star, it would not come as a surprise to find Earth-like planets closer in."
The observations of HR 8799c were made with the Keck II 10-metre telescope in Hawaii, one of the two largest optical telescopes in the world. The telescope's adaptive optics system corrects for distortion caused by Earth's atmosphere, making the view through Keck II sharper than through the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronomers refer to this as spatial resolution. Seeing exoplanets around stars is like trying to see a firefly next to a spotlight. Keck's adaptive optics and high spatial resolution, combined with advanced data-processing techniques, allow astronomers to more clearly see both the stellar "spotlight" and planetary "firefly."
"We can directly image the planets around HR 8799 because they are all large, young, and very far from their parent star. This makes the system an excellent laboratory for studying exoplanet atmospheres," says coauthor Christian Marois of the National Research Council of Canada. "Since its discovery, this system just keeps surprising us."
Konopacky and her team will continue to study the super-sized planets to learn more details about their nature and their atmospheres. Future observations will be made using the recently upgraded OSIRIS instrument which utilizes a new diffraction grating -- the key component of the spectrograph that separates light according to wavelength, just like a prism. The new grating was developed at the Dunlap Institute and installed in the spectrograph in December 2012.
"These future observations will tell us much more about the planets in this system," says Dunlap Fellow Konopacky. "And the more we learn about this distant planetary system, the more we learn about our own."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Toronto, via Newswise.
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Journal Reference:
Quinn M. Konopacky, Travis S. Barman, Bruce A. Macintosh, and Christian Marois. Detection of Carbon Monoxide and Water Absorption Lines in an Exoplanet Atmosphere. Science, 14 March 2013 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232003
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While visiting, and judging, the Photo Hack Day at Facebook headquarters yesterday, one of the more than 60 hacks presented in a two-minute format was iMaze. The team that put it together in just a little over a day was comprised of developers, some of whom were high-school students, and it ended up being one of the most polished apps coming out of the hackathon. With Aviary and Facebook putting on the event, some really cool things came out of it, but iMaze is one that just flat-out stuck with me. It’s simple: It turns your favorite photos into a maze. Once the maze is created, you can either make your way through it yourself or challenge your friend over the web in a real-time speed-test. Before we get to the app itself, the team geekily put together some stats on what went into making iMaze: 5 People 24 Hours 1304mg of Caffine 1,492 Lines of Code 194 GitHub Commits 12,920 Calories 3 APIs Impressive. Now to iMaze. Since you probably have a ton of photos on your computer or tossed about all over the web, iMaze uses Filepicker.io to let you pull in photos from Dropbox, Facebook, Flickr, Google Drive, Google Photos, Instagram or of course your machine. Once you upload the photo, you can use Aviary to edit it down before it’s turned into an interactive maze game that changes each time you upload a photo. Pick single player or invite a friend, and then compete with them in real-time. Now you’re ready to compete in getting all the way through this ZuckMaze by dragging the line with your mouse: Considering that this was a hack put together in a day, it’s pretty fun and well-designed. The iMaze team won third place overall, but I hope that they keep working on it, because it would be a fun Facebook game and app. Once in a while, I enjoy playing hangman or Tic Tac Toe, not because I’m a gamer, but because I like doing something while I chat with my friends. Considering that these mazes are built on top of your photos, it’s a nice way to reuse images from the past and start a fun discussion with your closest pals.
Michael Shapiro isn't the sort of person I'd expect to circumvent the gatekeepers of traditional journalism. He's a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism, and he said he's been published in The New Yorker, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, and Sports Illustrated ? in other other words, he seems to be on pretty good terms with those gatekeepers. Yet Shapiro is launching a new journalism startup called 
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